This report presents the Inflation Rate (IR), Consumer Price Index (CPI), and Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) for all income households in the province of Cavite during the month of March 2023. Inflation Rate (IR) is the annual rate of change of change or the year-on-year change of the CPI expressed in percent. Inflation is interpreted in terms of the declining purchasing power of money. Headline inflation in the Province of Cavite dropped at 7.1 percent for the month of March 2023. It is lower by 1.3 percent compared to February 2023 but higher by 4.4 percent versus to the inflation rate last March 2022 (see Table 1 and Figure 1). The deceleration in the province’s inflation rate in March 2023 was primarily due to the slower annual growth rate in the index for Transport commodity group at 3.5% inflation. Also contributing to the downtrend in the overall inflation for month of March 2023 were the lower annual increment in the indices of the following commodity groups: Food and Non – alcoholic Beverages, 8.7 percent Recreation, Sports, and Culture, 7.8 percent On the other hand, three (3) commodity groups showed a higher annual increment in the indices compared to last month’s inflation: Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 13.6 percent Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, 6.5 percent Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 5.5 percent Meanwhile, Clothing and Footwear (8 percent), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (11.6 percent), Health (2.2 percent), Information and Communication (-.07 percent), Education Services (1.2 percent), Restaurant and Accommodation Services (1.3 percent) and Financial Services (0.0 percent) were stable this month. For food inflation, a decrease of 4.2 percent was observed for the month of March 2023, with 8.7 percent inflation compared to its previous month’s record of 12.9 percent (Table 3). The annual growth rate of Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses went down to 12.1 percent during month of March 2023, from 39.6 percent last February 2023. In addition, food groups exhibited lower annual increments during the month are the following: Cereals and cereals products, 6.5 percent Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, 4.3 percent Fish and other seafood, 10.5 percent Milk, other dairy products and eggs, 15.8 percent Oils and fats, 7.6 percent Sugar, confectionery and desserts, 27.7 percent Meanwhile, the following food groups showed higher annual increment for the month: Flour, Bread And Other Bakery Products, Pasta Products and Other Cereals, 15.3 percent Fruits and nuts, 7.1 percent Ready-made food and other food products n.e.c, 7.0
