Year-on-Year
Measured from a year ago, the national inflation rate continued to slow down to 4.4 percent in February from 5.0 percent in January and 5.2 percent last December.
Month-on-Month
On a month-on-month basis, prices likewise continued to slow down to 0.4 percent in February from 0.6 percent in January and 0.8 percent last December.
By Region, Year-on-Year
The inflation rate in Metro Manila was recorded at 6.6 percent from 6.1 percent in January.
The rate in Areas outside Metro Manila (AOMM) slowed down to 3.6 percent from 4.6 percent in the previous month.
All the regions registered lower rates compared to January with the biggest decrease in Western Mindanao at 3.4 percentage points followed closely by Eastern Visayas at 3.1 percentage points. The inflation rate was lowest in Eastern Visayas at -0.2 percent while the highest was still in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) at 9.0 percent.
By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year
All the major groups slowed down except in the housing and repairs (H&R) index which went up by 0.4 percentage point to 9.6 percent from 9.2 percent in January.
Inflation in food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) slowed down by 1.1 percentage points; clothing, 0.1 percentage point; fuel, light and water (FLW), 0.3 percentage point; services, 0.2 percentage point; and miscellaneous items, 0.1 percentage point.
Inflation in food slowed down to 0.6 percent in February from 1.7 percent in January, also a slowdown of 1.1 percentage points.
For Metro Manila, inflation in FBT went up to 4.4 percent from 3.3 percent in January; H&R, 7.8 percent from 7.5 percent; and FLW, 15.1 percent from 15.0 percent while slowdowns were noted in the rates for clothing, services and miscellaneous items indexes.
Inflation in food moved up to 4.2 percent in February from 2.9 percent in January, gaining 1.3 percentage points.
For AOMM, only the H&R index recorded a higher rate, 11.5 percent from last month's 11.0 percent. Inflation rates of FBT went down by 1.4 percentage points, FLW by 0.4 percentage point, and miscellaneous items by 0.2 percentage point. In clothing and services, rates were stable at their January levels of 4.3 percent and 12.8 percent respectively.
All the regions outside Metro Manila registered lower inflation in FBT compared to January with six regions having negative rates. Inflation for food alone declined by 0.2 percent compared to the January increase of 1.4 percent.
Thirteen regions posted decreases in the inflation for rice. Bicol still registered the lowest rate at -14.4 percent while ARMM and Metro Manila, the only regions with positive inflation, had the highest at 2.7 percent. At the national level, inflation for rice further dropped to -5.4 percent from -2.6 percent in the previous month.
Corn prices continued to decline in many regions with the national index decreasing by -7.6 percent from -5.7 percent in January. The overall cereals index thus further dropped by -5.6 percent from -2.9 percent last month.
Inflation rates for other food groups were still on the decline, i.e., dairy products, 0.7 percentage point; eggs, 0.5 percentage point; fish, 1.5 percentage points; miscellaneous foods, 0.3 percentage point; and meals eaten outside, 0.2 percentage point. However, inflation was up in cereal preparations, 0.3 percentage point; meat, 1.0 percentage point; and fruits and vegetables, 1.0 percentage point as Metro Manila's rate increased to 14.9 percent from 3.2 percent in January.
By Region, Month-on-Month
Prices in Metro Manila increased by 0.9 percent from a zero growth last month. Higher month-on-month rates were noted in FBT, by 1.3 percentage points; H&R, by 1.1 percentage points; FLW, by 0.7 percentage point; and miscellaneous items, by 0.2 percentage point. Inflation in services dropped by 0.3 percentage point while that of clothing remained at its January rate of 0.3 percent.
In AOMM, prices increased at a slower rate of 0.3 percent from 0.9 percent in January. Except for the clothing index which was stable at its January level of 0.4 percent, the other five major commodity groups had lower rates in February compared to January. The slowdowns ranged from 0.1 percentage point to 1.5 percentage points.
Eleven regions posted lower month-on-month rates with the biggest decline observed in CAR and Ilocos Region at 1.4 percentage points. The highest month-on-month rate was registered in Northern and Southern Mindanao at 1.4 percent.
By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month
All the major groups indexes except for FLW had lower rates compared to those in January. Inflation slowdowns ranged from 0.1 percentage point to 0.4 percentage point while FLW moved up by 0.2 percentage point. The overall index slowed down by 0.2 percentage point.
The price of rice slowed to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent the previous month. Six regions including Metro Manila posted lower prices in February. Inflation dropped by 4.0 percentage points in Western Mindanao; 1.9 percentage points in Metro Manila; 1.8 percentage points in Ilocos Region; 0.7 percentage point in Central Luzon; and 0.5 percentage point in Northern Mindanao. Price increases noted in some regions went up to a high of 2.6 percent in Central Mindanao.
The price of corn was on the uptrend with the national and AOMM indexes increasing by 4.6 percent and 4.7 percent respectively. In Metro Manila the price was stable as the index posted a zero growth. The highest increases were recorded in Northern Mindanao at 11.9 percent, in Central Mindanao at 11.8 percent, in Western Visayas at 11.6 percent, and in Southern Mindanao at 10.8 percent.
Prices of dairy products went up by 0.3 percent, slower than the 0.5 percent increase in January.
In Metro Manila, the price of eggs decreased further by 0.6 percent. Some regions registered price increments which brought about an increase of 0.3 percent in AOMM and 0.1 percent in the national level.
Slowdowns were observed in the price of fish in many regions resulting in a zero growth in the index for AOMM. In Metro Manila, the price of fish moved up by 1.3 percent from 1.7 percent in January. The national index for fish increased by 0.2 percent which was slower than 1.9 percent in January.
Abundant supply of vegetables in the regions caused the group's index to decline by 3.0 percent in AOMM. In Metro Manila the index increased by 0.5 percent after a decline of 11.1 percent in January.
Meat prices rose by 0.3 percent in Metro Manila after a decline of 1.4 percent last month while it decreased by 0.1 percent in AOMM as the price of chicken, pork and beef were lower in some regions.
The miscellaneous foods index decreased by 0.3 percent in the Philippines, 0.1 percent in Metro Manila and 0.4 percent in AOMM as lower prices were noted in sugar, garlic, calamansi and cooking oil.
Higher rental rates mainly contributed to the 1.7 percent increase in H&R index in the Philippines, 2.1 percent in Metro Manila, and 1.2 percent in AOMM.
Price increases in LPG, kerosene, charcoal and water rates raised the FLW index in the Philippines by 1.0 percent, in Metro Manila by 0.7 percent; and in AOMM by 1.1 percent.
The services index was up by 0.4 percent in the Philippines, 0.2 percent in Metro Manila and 0.6 percent in AOMM as higher prices of gasoline, diesel, medicines along with increased telephone rates were recorded.
Source: National Statistics Office
