• Year-on-year inflation slowed down to 2.6 percent in January 2000 from 11.5 percent a year ago even as month-on-month inflation accelerated to 0.5 percent in January from 0.1 percent in December 1999.
   
• The 2.6 percent inflation is the lowest year-on-year growth since the 2.0 percent posted in May 1987.
   
• The slowdown for all commodity groups except fuel, light and water has been affected by, among others, the high base of the January 1999 inflation of 11.5 percent which was the highest since the December 1991 rate of 13.3 percent.
   
• Prices of food items such as fruits and vegetables, rice, sugar, cooking oil and meat were lower compared to January last year. However, the price increases of the same food commodities plus fish contributed significantly to the month-on-month growth which has picked up.
   

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX
(1994=100)
JANUARY 2000

> By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year

* Inflation rates for all commodity groups except for fuel, light and water (FLW) slowed down in January. The rate for food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) moved down to –1.0 percent in January from 0.6 percent in December; for clothing, to 2.7 percent from 4.9 percent; for housing and repairs (H&R), to 7.2 percent from 8.8 percent; for services, to 11.5 percent from 12.5 percent; and for miscellaneous items, to -0.3 percent from 3.8 percent. However the rate for FLW picked up to 8.4 percent from 8.2 percent in December.

> The inflation rate for food alone was –1.4 percent in January, lower than 0.2 percent in December. Slower rates were noted in the prices of rice, -1.5 percent from 0.6 percent; dairy products, 1.7 percent from 2.5 percent; eggs, -1.4 percent from 0.9 percent; fish, 4.0 percent from 7.9 percent; fruits and vegetables, -13.9 percent from –7.0 percent; and meat, -0.6 percent from 0.6 percent. However, higher rates were registered in the prices of corn, 14.2 percent from 11.4 percent; cereal preparations, 3.5 percent from 2.8 percent; and miscellaneous foods, -0.5 percent from –3.6 percent.

* In Metro Manila (MM), the rate for FBT further declined to –2.7 percent from –0.9 percent in December while those for clothing and miscellaneous items decelerated by 3.4 percentage points; and H&R, by 0.3 percentage point. On the other hand, the rates for FLW and services were higher by 0.7 percentage point and 1.1 percentage points, respectively.

> The inflation rate for food alone in MM continued to slow down to –3.3 percent in January from –1.8 percent in December. Lower rates were posted in the prices of dairy products, 2.3 percent from 2.9 percent; eggs, -7.7 percent from –5.0 percent; fish, -0.4 percent from 4.6 percent; fruits and vegetables, -18.3 percent from –7.6 percent; and meat, -6.0 percent from –3.3 percent. However, higher rates were recorded in the prices of rice, -0.3 percent from –0.5 percent; corn, 14.4 percent from 12.2 percent; cereal preparations, 4.9 percent from 1.4 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 2.1 percent from –2.8 percent.

* For areas outside Metro Manila (AOMM), all the commodity groups posted lower inflation rates. The rates for FBT went down to –0.5 percent in January from 1.1 percent in December; clothing, 3.3 percent from 5.2 percent; H&R, 9.1 percent from 11.7 percent; FLW, 8.4 percent from 8.5 percent; services, 11.8 percent from 13.8 percent; and miscellaneous items, -0.3 percent from 4.3 percent.

• The inflation rate for food alone moved down to –0.8 percent in January from 0.8 percent the previous month.
• The inflation rate for rice decreased to 1.7 percent from an increase of 0.7 percent in December. Ten regions posted lower rates; of which the biggest decrease was 10.6 percentage points in Ilocos.
• The inflation rates for cereal preparations decelerated to 2.9 percent from 3.3 percent in December; dairy products, 1.4 percent from 2.3 percent; eggs, 0.5 percent from 2.9 percent; fish, 5.1 percent from 8.7 percent; fruits and vegetables, -12.3 percent from –6.7 percent; and meat, 1.9 percent from 2.5 percent. Higher rates were however recorded in the prices of corn, 14.2 percent from 11.4 percent; and miscellaneous foods, -1.6 percent from –4.0 percent.

> By Region, Year-on-Year

* The inflation rate for Metro Manila went down to 2.0 percent in January from 3.0 percent in December.

* Inflation in AOMM slowed down to 2.9 percent in January from 4.7 percent a month earlier. All the regions posted slower inflation rates. The biggest decline was noted in Ilocos at 3.4 percentage points followed by Western Visayas at 2.9 percentage points. Ilocos posted the lowest inflation rate at –0.1 percent while the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) recorded the highest rate at 6.9 percent.

> By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month

* Month-on-month inflation rates for FBT went up to 0.9 percent in January from zero growth in December; H&R, 0.6 percent from 0.3 percent; and FLW, 0.4 percent from 0.2 percent. On the other hand, inflation rates for clothing went down to 0.1 percent from 0.2 percent; and miscellaneous items, -2.9 percent from 0.2 percent. That for services remained at 0.3 percent.

• The price of rice went up to 0.4 percent in January from 0.1 percent a month earlier. Eleven regions registered increases. The highest rate was posted in Southern Mindanao at 2.0 percent while Central Visayas posted the lowest rate at –1.2 percent.
• Corn prices in AOMM recorded zero growth in January. In MM, it increased to 2.0 percent from -16.6 percent in December. Overall there was zero growth.
• Prices of cereal preparations in MM increased to 0.2 percent from zero growth as flour, bread and biscuits were priced higher during the month. In AOMM, the rate slowed down to 0.2 percent from 0.3 percent in December.
• Prices of dairy products grew by 0.3 percent. This rate was higher from that of December due to increases in the prices of powdered and condensed milk, cheese and butter.
• Prices of eggs went up by 0.5 percent which was higher from the rate in December.
• Fish prices in MM rose to 3.5 percent and to 2.0 percent in AOMM resulting to a 2.3 percent growth in the national index with the decrease in volume of fish catch reaching wet markets.
• The index for fruits and vegetables increased in the Philippines to 1.6 percent from -1.3 percent due to the gain in AOMM to 2.3 percent from -0.9 percent. In MM, large volume of fruits and vegetables reaching various markets accounted for the drop in prices to -0.6 percent from -2.5 percent in December.
• Higher prices of chicken, pork and beef in many regions including MM pushed up the meat index by 0.6 percent in the Philippines.
• Prices of cooking oil, calamansi, coconut, garlic and coffee increased in January. The miscellaneous foods index went up to 3.0 percent in MM and 0.1 percent in AOMM.
• Prices of meals eaten outside increased to 2.1 percent from 0.1 percent due to the rise to 4.5 percent from zero growth in MM and to 0.6 percent from 0.1 percent in AOMM.

* The H&R index in the Philippines went up by 0.6 percent from 0.3 percent last month. This was due to the increases in the prices of selected construction materials like common wire nails, lumber, cement, faucet brass and insulated wire along with higher rental rates in all the regions including MM.

* The FLW index increased to 0.4 percent in January from 0.2 percent a month earlier. This was brought about by the increases in the prices of firewood, charcoal, candle, kerosene and LPG along with the higher rate for electricity consumption in many regions. Higher prices of firewood together with higher purchased power adjustment (PPA) rate for electricity in MM also contributed to the increase.

* The clothing index increased by 0.1 percent, slower than the December rate brought about by higher prices of footwear and ready-made apparel like underwear, pants, socks, and duster along with price mark-ups of sewing accessories like thread, needle and higher sewing charges in many regions including MM.

* The MM index for services went up to 0.4 percent from 0.1 percent last month. In AOMM, the index registered a 0.3 percent increase which was slower than 0.5 percent in December. This resulted to a 0.3 percent increase in the national index which was the same rate posted last month. Increases in the prices of school supplies, medicines, feeding bottle, engine oil, diesel, and gasoline along with higher charges for haircut, manicure, laundry and higher salary for domestic help contributed to the increase.

* Prices of miscellaneous items decreased to –2.9 percent in the Philippines, 3.2 percent in MM and –2.8 percent in AOMM from their respective December rates of 0.2 percent.

> By Region, Month-on-Month

* Prices in MM went up to 0.6 percent in January from 0.1 percent in December. Higher rates were noted in the prices of FBT, H&R and FLW at 1.3 percent, 0.8 percent and 0.6, respectively from zero growth last month while services rose to 0.4 percent from 0.1 percent.

* In AOMM, prices moved up to 0.5 percent in January from 0.1 percent in December. Inflation for FBT in January was higher at 0.8 percent from zero growth a month ago and H&R, 0.6 percent from 0.5 percent. Compared to December, ten regions posted higher rates. The highest rate was registered in Eastern Visayas at 1.3 percent while the lowest was in CAR at –0.3 percent.