PSA makes 2012 as base year for CPI starting in March

February 22, 2018

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has made 2012 as the base year to determine the consumer price index from 2006, the agency said in its website on Thursday.

The March CPI report, which will be released on March 6, will have 2012 as the base year, PSA added.

"The rebasing of the CPI from 2006 to 2012 is in consonance with the recommendation of the PSA Board in its Resolution No. 01 series of 2017-146 (Approving the synchronized rebasing of price indices to base year 2006 and every six years thereafter) to reflect the latest composition of goods and services consumed and availed of by households across provinces of the country," said the PSA.

Data users will expect two sets of the CPI as the new series shall be issued simultaneous with the 2006-based series until June 2018.  After July, the CPI series shall be 2012-based.

The CPI is an indicator of the change in the average prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by an average Filipino household for their day-to-day consumption relative to a base year. The base year for the current CPI series is 2006.

The CPI is most widely used in the calculation of the inflation rate and purchasing power of the peso (PPP). Inflation rate measures the changes in the CPI over a specific period of time (usually a month or a year). The PPP, on the other hand, gives an indication of how much the Philippine peso is worth in a given period relative to its value in a base period, the PSA said.

The CPI also serves as basis for economic analysis, for collective bargaining agreements, for wage adjustments, and for monitoring the effects of government economic policy on households. DMS