OCTOBER 2013
Year-on-Year and Month-on-Month Growth Rates
of General Retail Price Index: October and September 2013
| All Items | October 2013 | September 2013 | Year-to-date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year-on-Year | 2.3 | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| Month-on-Month | 0.4 | 0.4 |
Year-on-Year
The annual growth in the General Retail Price Index (GRPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) picked up to 2.3 percent in October from 1.7 percent in September. A higher annual increase was noted in the heavily-weighted food index at 2.5 percent in October from 0.5 percent in September and in machinery and equipment index, 1.6 percent from 1.3 percent. On the other hand, slower annual gains were seen in the following indices: beverages and tobacco, 15.6 percent from 16.4 percent; crude materials inedible except fuels, 1.8 percent from 3.1 percent; and manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials, 1.5 percent from 1.7 percent. The indices of chemicals, including animal and vegetable oils and fats and miscellaneous manufactured articles correspondingly retained their September rates of 1.3 percent and 1.4 percent. However, a negative annual rate of 0.3 percent was posted by mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials index from 0.9 percent.
By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month
The growth in the GRPI for all items in NCR was pegged at 0.4 percent in October. This was the same rate posted in September.
The food index moved up 1.4 percent in October from 1.1 percent in September. This was attributed to the increments in the prices of chicken, fish, rice, off-season fruits and vegetables.
The beverages and tobacco index went up at a slower pace of 0.1 percent from 0.2 percent. Price hikes in liquors, wines and cigarettes slowed down during the month in review compared to last month.
Price add-ons in selected sanitary fixtures and footwear pushed up the miscellaneous manufactured articles index by 0.1 percent from zero growth.
Upward adjustments in the prices of selected paints and related compounds raised the index for chemicals, including animal and vegetable oils and fats by 0.1 percent.
The machinery and transport equipment index grew by 0.2 percent. It resulted from the price upticks in tumbler switch and solid electrical wire.
A 1.1 percent decline was seen in the index of crude materials, inedible except fuels index due to price cuts in gravel, sand and wood charcoal.
Price roll-backs were noted in gasoline, LPG, diesel fuel and kerosene. Thus, the mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials index dropped by 1.5 percent from 1.4 percent.
No movement was seen in the index of manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials as it recorded a zero growth during the month from -0.2 percent in September.
