Year-on-Year
Measured from a year ago, the national inflation rate slowed down to 5.0 percent in January 1997 from 5.2 percent in December 1996.
Month-on-Month
On a month-on-month basis, prices went up by 0.6 percent in January, slower than the 0.8 percent increase in the previous month.
By Region, Year-on-Year
Metro Manila registered an inflation rate of 6.2 percent from 7.4 percent in December 1996.
Areas Outside Metro Manila's (AOMM) rate increased to 4.6 percent from 4.4 percent in the previous month.
Seven regions registered higher rates compared to December, of which the biggest increment was in Eastern Visayas (Region VIII) at 1.2 percentage points. In Southern Tagalog (Region IV) and Southern Mindanao, rates were maintained at their previous month's levels of 6.5 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. Bicol Region continued to register the lowest rate at 0.2 percent while Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the highest at 9.4 percent.
By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year
Services slowed down by 0.8 percentage points to 12.0 percent in January from 12.8 percent the previous month; fuel, light and water (FLW) to 10.5 percent from 10.7 percent; and food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent.
The clothing inflation rate remained at its previous month's level of 4.0 percent.
The housing and repairs (H&R) and the miscellaneous items rates increased to 9.3 percent and 1.8 percent, slightly up from their corresponding rates of 8.9 percent and 1.6 percent in December.
For Metro Manila, the rates of FBT slowed down to 3.3 in January percent from 5.3 percent in the previous month; H&R, 7.7 percent from 8.3 percent; FLW, 15.0 percent from 17.4 percent; and services, 10.3 percent from 11.0 percent while increases were noted in the rates of clothing and miscellaneous items.
For AOMM, only the services index registered a lower rate, 12.8 percent from 13.7 percent last month. Inflation rates in FBT, clothing and miscellaneous items were stable at their previous month's levels of 1.8 percent, 4.3 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively. H&R and FLW rates were up by 1.4 percentage points and 0.5 percentage point, respectively.
Ten regions posted increases in the inflation in rice slowing down the decline to -2.6 percent from -4.7 percent. Bicol Region registered the lowest rate at -15.1 percent while ARMM registered the highest at 6.1 percent. Corn prices further decreased by 5.7 percent from last month's decrease of 2.6 percent contributing to a -2.9 percent change in cereals.
The inflation rates for other food groups were still on the downtrend, i.e., cereal preparations, 0.4 percentage point; dairy products, 0.6 percentage point; eggs, 0.8 percentage point; fish, 2.6 percentage points; fruits and vegetables, 3.1 percentage points; meat, 0.2 percentage point; and miscellaneous foods, 1.2 percentage points.
By Region, Month-on-Month
Prices in Metro Manila moved up by 0.1 percent from 0.9 percent last month. H&R increased by 1.2 percent from a zero change in December. However, FBT declined by 1.0 percent from last month's increase of 1.3 percent. Lower month-on-month rates were also noted in miscellaneous items, 0.2 percentage point; clothing, 0.3 percentage point; services, 0.9 percentage point; and FLW, 2.5 percentage points.
In AOMM, prices went up by 0.9 percent from 0.7 percent last month. The FBT, H&R, FLW and miscellaneous items rates were up by 0.1 percentage point, 1.9 percentage points, 0.2 percentage point and 0.1 percentage point, respectively. Clothing and services rates slowed down to 0.4 percent from 0.6 percent and 0.9 percent from 2.2 percent.
Eight regions posted higher month-on-month rates of which the highest increment was observed in Central Mindanao (Region XII) at 1.4 percentage points. Central Visayas (Region VII) registered the highest month-on-month rate at 1.7 percent.
By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month
Except for H&R and miscellaneous items, other groups registered lower month-on-month rates; thus a lower overall rate in the national level was seen at 0.6 percent from 0.8 percent last month.
The price of rice rose by 0.4 percent after it declined by 0.2 percent in December. Ten regions including Metro Manila posted higher prices in rice in January. The highest month-on-month rate was noted in ARMM at 1.7 percent. Price decreases noted in some regions were less than 1.0 percent.
The national and AOMM indices for corn continued to decline, in December by 1.1 percent from -0.3 percent the previous month. In Metro Manila, the corn index also decreased by 0.1 percent from last month's increase of 1.0 percent. Eleven regions registered negative rates of which the biggest decrease was noted in Central Mindanao (Region XII) at -2.7 percent.
Prices of dairy products were higher by 0.5 percent in the national level and in Metro Manila and 0.4 percent in AOMM as milk prices increased in most regions.
Eggs were still cheaper by 1.4 percent in Metro Manila from last month's price decrease of 1.8 percent. Eight regions posted higher prices during the month resulting in an increase of 0.2 percent in AOMM . These brought about a decrease of 0.1 percent in the national index.
Lesser volumes of fish unloaded caused by the prevailing weather situation effected price increases in fish as increases were noted in all regions. The fish index increased by 1.9 percent in the Philippines, 1.7 percent in Metro Manila and 2 .0 percent in AOMM.
Abundant supply of temperate vegetables such as carrots, cabbage and heavy infusion of tomatoes coming from the traditional sources in Northern Philippines considerably caused the reduction of vegetable prices in Metro Manila. The group's index registered a decline of 11.1 percent in the area. However, in AOMM, some fruits and vegetables were sold higher effecting a 0.2 percent increase in the index. The national index declined by 2.1 percent.
The unloading of poultry stock after the holiday season caused significant price cuts in whole and dressed chicken in Metro Manila bringing about the 1.4 percent decline in the meat index. In AOMM, prices of chicken, pork and beef increased in ten regions resulting in a 0.5 percent uptick in the meat index. The national index for meat was down by 0.1 percent.
Inflation in miscellaneous foods was down by 0.1 percent in the Philippines and AOMM. In Metro Manila, the index increased by 0.1 percent. Meals eaten outside likewise increased in the Philippines and AOMM by 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.
The H&R index was up by 1.9 percent in the Philippines, 1.2 percent in Metro Manila and 2.7 percent in AOMM as higher rental rates were recorded in most of the regions. The increase in the prices of carpentry and plumbing materials also contributed to the uptick.
Price hikes in kerosene, LPG and charcoal caused the FLW index to rise by 0.9 percent in the national level, and 1.2 percent in AOMM. In Metro Manila, however, the index registered a zero growth as the increases in the price of LPG and kerosene were accompanied by lower subsidized rate and generation charge for electricity bills.
Increases in transport fares were still observed in some provinces along with the price hikes in gasoline and diesel oil pushing up the services index by 0.8 percent in the Philippines, 0.5 percent in Metro Manila and 0.9 percent in AOMM. Higher charges in medical, dental, personal and recreational services together with increased prices of some educational supplies also contributed to the increase in the services index.
Price increases in items for household operation and personal care and effects raised the miscellaneous items index by 0.3 percent in the Philippines and AOMM and 0.1 percent in Metro Manila.
Note:
The water rates used for the calculations were revised and updated upon verification with MWSS. While the inflation rates of FLW have been scaled up, the national average remains at 8.4 percent in 1996.
Source: National Statistics Office
