Consumer Price Index (CPI)

For this release, a new base year was used for the CPI, that is, 2012. For Bohol, the CPI for the month of March for all items was 119.5. This is higher by 0.8 points than that of February. Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco ranked first among the major commodity groups with CPI of 150.4. This was followed by Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House, and Education with CPI of 135.4 and 125.5, respectively. For the subgroups, the commodities with the top three highest CPI were Tobacco with 177.7, Vegetables with 156.1 and Recreational and Cultural Services with 151.1. On the other hand, the item with the lowest CPI was Operation of Personal Transport Operation with a CPI of less than 100.

Inflation Rate (IR)

For March, the Inflation Rate for all items recorded at 4.7. This is a little lower from last month, the highest for 2018 so far. The abrupt rise in price of commodities that occurred last February was contributed to the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law that increases the excise tax on petroleum products, automobiles and sweetened beverages.

From Table 1, there was a significant rise in the price of Corn, Tobacco, and Postal Services, with inflation rates greater than 20.0. In contrast, three commodities that had negative inflation rates were Newspapers, Books and Stationery with -8.1 IR, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels with -3.4 and Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolates and Confectionery with -2.7.

On a monthly basis, a sharp rise in the price of Non-alcoholic Beverages occurred with a 13.3% change. Other Major Durables for Recreation and Culture, and Transport Services also had substantial increase in price. The commodity Vegetables, though the highest contributor for the CPI this month, had a negative monthly percent change of -5.3.

Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP)

The Purchasing Power of Peso of Bohol for this month was 0.84. This value was the same for the past two months but is lower by 0.01 than that of January. The decrease in the PPP was attributed to the continuous increase in the CPI.

On a twelve-month basis, a decreasing trend was observed in the PPP. From 0.88 in June 2017, the PPP continued to decrease since then.

(Sgd.) JESSAMYN ANNE C. ALCAZAREN
Chief Statistical Specialist