• The inflation rate for food alone was 7.8 percent in April from 9.4 percent in March. Lower rates were posted in the prices of rice, 5.9 percent in April from 6.2 percent in March; fruits and vegetables, 17.7 percent from 24.4 percent; miscellaneous foods, 7.1 percent from 8.1 percent; fish, 9.6 percent from 12.0 percent; meat, 5.5 percent from 6.3 percent; eggs,15.2 percent from 15.5 percent; cereal preparations, 6.0 percent from 6.9 percent; and dairy products, 4.5 percent from 5.1 percent. However, the price of corn decreased by -2.0 percent in April compared to -2.1 percent last month.

• The inflation for food alone in MM slowed down to 6.5 percent in April from 8.6 percent in March. Lower rates were recorded in the prices of rice, -0.3 percent in April from 0.3 percent in March; cereal preparations, 5.6 percent from 6.8 percent; dairy products, 4.1 percent from 4.2 percent; eggs, 25.1 percent from 26.6 percent; fish, 11.1 percent from 17.5 percent; fruits and vegetables, 27.5 percent from 30.7 percent; meat, 2.2 percent from 4.9 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 1.4 percent from 2.5 percent. However, the price of corn increased to 14.5 percent in April from -8.8 percent in March.

• The inflation rate for food alone moved down to 8.3 percent in April from 9.7 percent last month.
• The inflation rate for rice slowed down to 6.9 percent in April from 7.1 percent in March. Eight regions posted lower rates; the biggest decline was 4.5 percentage points in Eastern Visayas.
• Inflation rates for corn slowed down to -2.3 percent in April from -2.0 percent last month; cereal preparations, 6.2 percent from 6.9 percent; dairy products, 4.7 percent from 5.5 percent; fish, 9.3 percent from 10.7 percent; fruits and vegetables, 14.6 percent from 22.4 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 9.7 percent from 10.6 percent. Higher rates were registered in the prices of eggs, 12.2 percent in April from 12.1 percent in March, and meat, 7.0 percent from 6.9 percent.

• The price of rice declined by 0.2 percent in April from 0.1 percent in March. Seven regions recorded negative inflation rates during the month including MM. The lowest rate was noted in CARAGA at -1.9 percent while Central Visayas registered the highest rate at 1.4 percent.
• Corn prices slowed down to 1.0 percent in the Philippines and 0.7 percent in AOMM in April from their growth of 2.3 percent in March. However, in MM, it significantly increased to 24.6 percent from -0.5 percent last month.
• Prices of cereal preparations remained at the levels of the previous month.
• Prices of dairy products recorded higher rates of 0.3 percent in MM and 0.2 percent in AOMM and Philippines as milk and ice cream were priced higher during the month.
• In MM, prices of eggs fell by 1.1 percent in April from 0.6 percent in March while in AOMM, the rate remained at 0.2 percent. This caused the national index to post a 0.2 percent decrement.
• Fish prices dropped in MM by 2.7 percent but posted a zero growth in AOMM resulting to a 0.5 percent decline for the Philippines.
• With the exception of MM and ARMM, the fruits and vegetables index declined in all the regions resulting to a 2.6 percent drop in the national index. Good weather conditions continued to enhance the production of fruits and vegetables which, in turn, brought lower prices. The declines ranged from -1.6 percent in Ilocos to -7.5 percent in CAR.
• The meat index in MM further went down by -1.5 percent in April from -0.6 percent in March as prices of chicken were still lower due to continued abundant supply. This pulled down the national index to -0.2 percent even as meat prices in AOMM increased by 0.4 percent.
• Sugar, garlic and ginger were priced lower during the month in most of the regions including MM resulting to a 0.3 percent reduction in the miscellaneous foods index.
• The national index of meals eaten outside slowed down by 0.1 percent in April from 0.2 percent last month.

In AOMM, prices decreased to -0.1 percent in April compared to -0.3 percent a month earlier. Except for FBT whose rate was higher by 0.4 percentage point, all other commodity groups recorded lower month-on-month rates. Clothing and services were lower by 0.1 percentage point; H&R, 0.7 percentage point; FLW, 0.8 percentage point; and miscellaneous items, 0.2 percentage point. Ten regions posted negative rates with the lowest rate recorded in CARAGA at -0.8 percent while the highest rate was registered in ARMM at 0.5 percent. 

Page Last Updated: May 5, 1999