Inflation Rate Calculator Philippines

Understanding inflation is crucial for making informed financial decisions in the Philippines. Inflation refers to the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and subsequently, purchasing power is falling. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is the primary source for official inflation data in the country.

This calculator will help you estimate the purchasing power of a certain amount of money in the past, considering historical inflation rates in the Philippines. You can input an amount of money and a year, and it will tell you how much that amount would be worth today in terms of today's prices.

How Inflation Affects Your Money

When inflation is high, your money buys less than it used to. For example, if the inflation rate was 5% last year, an item that cost ₱100 at the beginning of the year would cost ₱105 at the end of the year. This means your ₱100 can no longer buy that item. Conversely, when inflation is low, your purchasing power erodes more slowly.

The calculation is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. The formula used is:

Present Value = Past Value * (CPI Today / CPI in Past Year)

While historical CPI data is available from the PSA, this calculator uses a simplified approach for demonstration purposes, allowing you to input a past year and see an estimated equivalent value today based on typical inflation patterns.

Calculate Past Purchasing Power

function calculatePurchasingPower() { var pastValueInput = document.getElementById("pastValue"); var pastYearInput = document.getElementById("pastYear"); var resultDiv = document.getElementById("result"); var pastValue = parseFloat(pastValueInput.value); var pastYear = parseInt(pastYearInput.value); var currentYear = new Date().getFullYear(); // Get the current year dynamically if (isNaN(pastValue) || isNaN(pastYear) || pastYear currentYear) { resultDiv.innerHTML = "Please enter valid numbers for Amount and Year. Year should be between 1900 and the current year."; return; } // This is a simplified estimation. For precise calculations, use historical CPI data from PSA. // We'll simulate inflation by assuming an average annual inflation rate. // For example, let's assume an average of 4% annual inflation for demonstration. var averageAnnualInflationRate = 0.04; // 4% var numberOfYears = currentYear – pastYear; var inflationMultiplier = Math.pow(1 + averageAnnualInflationRate, numberOfYears); var presentValue = pastValue * inflationMultiplier; resultDiv.innerHTML = "An amount of ₱" + pastValue.toFixed(2) + " in " + pastYear + " would have the approximate purchasing power of ₱" + presentValue.toFixed(2) + " today (assuming an average annual inflation rate of " + (averageAnnualInflationRate * 100) + "%)."; }