JANUARY 2015
Year-on-Year and Month-on-Month Growth Rates
of General Retail Price Index
| All Items | January 2015 | December 2014 | January 2014 | Year-to-date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year-on-Year | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
| Month-on-Month | -0.2 | -0.4 | 0.2 |
Year-on-Year
The annual gain in the General Retail Price Index (GRPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) further slowed down to 1.8 percent in January 2015. Last month and in January 2014, it grew by 2.3 percent. This resulted primarily from the annual decrease in the index of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials at -21.7 percent. Moreover, lower annual increments were posted in the following commodity groups: food index, 5.3 percent; beverages and tobacco index 3.2 percent; crude materials, inedible except fuels index, 5.6 percent; chemicals, including animal and vegetable oils and fats index, 2.0 percent; and manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials index, 2.5 percent. A faster annual increase was however, noted in machinery and transport equipment index at 0.2 percent while that for miscellaneous manufactured articles index remained at its previous month’s rate of 1.8 percent.
By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month
On a monthly basis, the GRPI in NCR dropped by 0.2 percent in January 2015 from its last month’s level.
The continuous price reductions in gasoline, LPG, diesel fuel and kerosene further pushed down the index of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials index by 7.2 percent.
The heavily-weighted food index inched up by 0.2 percent as prices of selected foodstuffs such as fish, shortening and margarine were pegged higher during the month.
The 0.3 percent gain in beverages and tobacco index was attributed to price increments in beer, gin, whisky and selected softdrinks.
Price add-on in gravel effected a 0.1 percent uptick in the crude materials inedible except fuels index.
A 0.1 percent growth was noted in the index of manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials. This was brought about by the upward price adjustments in plywood, sahara cement and nails.
Price increases in selected furniture and ready-made garments were observed this month. Thus, the miscellaneous manufactured articles index inched up by 0.1 percent.
A zero growth was seen in the indices of chemicals, including animal and vegetable oils and fats and machinery and transport equipment.
