The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an indicator of the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year. It shows how much, on the average, prices of goods and services have increased or decreased from a particular reference period known as the base year. Since price is the cost or the amount of money for which something can be bought or sold, CPI therefore compares the current cost of certain goods and services with their cost at an earlier time.
To illustrate, an index of 114.5 in NCR in June 2018 means that consumer prices, on the average, have increased by 14.5 percent from 2012. It also means that a basket of commodities which can be purchased at Php100.00 by an average Filipino household in NCR in 2012 can be bought at Php114.5 in June 2018.
CPIs in NCR accelerates in the second quarter of 2018
The CPI in NCR registered at 114.3 in April 2018 but slightly decelerated to 113.9 in May 2018. By the end of the second quarter of 2018, CPI accelerated by 0.6 point. Higher trend in CPI was recorded for all months during the second quarter of 2018 compared to the same period of the previous year. Refer to Table 1 for details.
NCR records lower CPI than the national figures in the second quarter of 2018
The NCR CPIs were consistently lower than the national CPI for all months of the second quarter of 2018. The national and NCR figures showed linear trend.
NCR records highest inflation rate in June 2018
Inflation Rate (IR) in NCR decreased from 5.2 percent in April and dropped to 4.9 percent in May 2018, and increased by 0.9 percentage point in June 2018. IRs for Philippines and NCR exhibited similar trend.
NCR Inflation Rate is higher than the national figure for the second quarter 2018
NCR registered higher IR for the second quarter of 2018 compared to the national figures. The monthly IRs of NCR in the second quarter of 2018 were higher than those of the same period of 2017. Refer to Table 2 for details.
PPP in NCR declines during the second quarter of 2018
The Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) for NCR declined from April to June 2018 as compared to the same months in 2017. The same trend was likewise observed for the national PPP.
Comparatively, the PPPs of NCR were higher than the national PPP in the second quarter of 2018.