Month-on-Month Growth Rates

The seasonally adjusted CPI for all items at the country level moved at its May rate of 0.3 percent in June. It resulted from the mixed trends in the growths among the commodity groups. A faster rate was seen in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index at 0.2 percent in June from -0.1 percent in May. On the other hand, clothing and footwear index went up at a slower pace of 0.2 percent from 0.5 percent while the education index dropped by 1.1 percent from 0.4 percent. Movements in the indices of furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; health; and recreation and culture remained at 0.3 percent; alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 0.6 percent; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 0.2 percent.

Relative to the expected trend, seasonal factors such as tuition fee hikes and bigger demand for selected items during the opening of classes pushed up the indices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; recreation and culture; education; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services. On the contrary, these seasonal factors pushed down the health index while no effect was noted in the all items index.

The monthly increment in alcoholic beverages and tobacco index in NCR decelerated to 0.5 percent in June from 1.0 percent in May. In addition, the indices for transport and education correspondingly went down by 0.1 percent and 0.6 percent from their respective last month’s growths of 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, a zero growth was recorded in the indices of non-food and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house.

Seasonal factors such as increases in tuition fees and bigger demand for selected items during the opening of classes pushed up the indices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco; non-food; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; transport; and education during the period.

In AONCR, higher monthly gains were noticed in the indices of clothing and footwear at 0.3 percent in June from 0.2 percent in May and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 0.4 percent from 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. However, the uptick in furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house index was slower at 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent. The indices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco and health retained their corresponding previous month’s rates of 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent while the education index declined by 1.1 percent from 0.4 percent. The index for recreation and culture registered a zero growth during the month from 0.2 percent in May.

The indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; health; education; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services were pushed up by the seasonal factors such as tuition fee hikes and bigger demand for some goods during the opening of classes. On the other hand, the index for recreation and culture was not affected by these seasonal factors.