INFLATION RATE CONTINUES TO SUBSIDE, 7.1% IN MARCH 2005

Cordillera Administrative Region's annual inflation rate started the year in a good note as it dropped by 1.2 points in March. With the year 2000 as the base period, the year-on-year change stood at 7.1 percent from 7.2 percent in February. Notwithstanding, the rise in prices of Fuel, Light and Water is more than enough to cause inflation to go up to its level in March 2005.

The slight decline in the current level of inflation was generally attributed to the drop in inflation rates in Food, Beverages and Tobacco by 0.9 point, Clothing by 0.8 point and Miscellaneous by 0.3 point. On the other hand, the commodity groups that pushed inflation up came largely from Fuel, Light and Water that increased by 4.9 points, and then followed by Housing and Repairs by 0.4 point and Services by 0.2 percentage point.

This month's average Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew 0.7 points from 128.8 of February to 129.5 of March. Among the commodity groups, only Food, Beverages and Tobacco remained in its index. The rest of the commodity groups registered increases: Fuel, Light and Water (5.8 points), Housing and Repairs (1.5 points), Clothing (0.5 points), Services (0.4 points), and Miscellaneous (0.3 points).

The purchasing power of the peso in March 2005 in the region stood at P 0.77 as compared to PhP 1.00 in year 2000.

Consumer Price Index and Inflation Rates by Commodity Group
CAR: March 2005 and February 2005
(2000=100)

Source of Basic Data: National Statistics Office