Food, Beverages and Tobacco (FBT) and Non-FBT Items
(NCR and AONCR - January 2008)

1. CPI of Food, Beverages and Tobacco (FBT): National Capital Region (NCR) and Areas Outside the National Capital Region (AONCR)
   

   The seasonally adjusted CPI of FBT in NCR and AONCR registered at 136.6 and 141.7 in January were higher than their respective December levels of 135.9 and 140.2.

   Prices of fish were up in the two areas due to limited supply brought about by the difficulty in catching fish that usually settle deep in the waters during the cold months. Moreover, bigger demand of fish was also observed as most consumers preferred more fish recipes after the holiday season. All these factors pushed up prices of FBT items in NCR and AONCR relative to the expected trend.

   On a monthly basis, prices of seasonally adjusted CPI of FBT items in NCR moved at a slower rate of 0.5 percent in January from the 0.9 percent growth in December while in AONCR, prices increased by 1.1 percent from previous month’s rate of 0.9 percent.

2. CPI of Non-FBT items: National Capital Region (NCR) and Areas Outside the National Capital Region (AONCR)

The seasonally adjusted CPI of non-FBT items in NCR and AONCR correspondingly picked up to 155.5 and 150.4 in January from their respective December levels of 155.1 and 149.2. Seasonal factors such as the practice of implementing business changes at the beginning of the year like increasing rental rates in some regions raised prices of non- FBT items in AONCR. However, these factors did not affect prices of non-FBT in NCR relative to the expected trend.

Compared with last month, the monthly rate of change of the seasonally adjusted CPI of non-FBT items in NCR slowed down to 0.3 percent in January from 0.5 percent in December. However, prices of seasonally adjusted CPI of non-FBT items in AONCR grew to 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent.

For technical notes and other related information,
please visit:
http://www.census.gov.ph
or contact the Economic Indicators and Indices Division, NSO
at telephone number 716-3935

Page last updated: February 5, 2008