> Food, beverages and tobacco and services contributed mainly to the increase in the year-on-year inflation rate.

> Higher month-on-month inflation in food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) and fuel, light and water (FLW) tempered with a deceleration in services resulted to a slower 0.5 percent increase in July.

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX
(1994=100)
JULY 2000

> By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year

* The rates for FBT picked up to 2.2 percent in July from 1.8 percent in June; FLW, 10.1 percent from 9.5 percent; services, 10.7 percent from 10.2 percent; and miscellaneous items, 2.5 percent from 2.4 percent. On the other hand, the rates for clothing slowed down to 2.3 percent from 2.4 percent; and housing & repairs (H&R), 4.3 percent from 4.6 percent.

>The inflation rate for food alone moved up to 2.1 percent in July from 1.5 percent in June. Faster rates were seen in the indexes of rice, 1.6 percent from 1.0 percent; cereal preparations, 3.0 percent from 2.6 percent; eggs, -2.8 percent from 3.1 percent; fish, 4.9 percent from 4.8 percent; fruits and vegetables. 2.9 percent from 1.4 percent; meat, 0.6 percent from 0.2 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 0.8 percent from 0.4 percent. However, slower rates were posted in the indexes of corn, 7.8 percent from 8.4 percent; and dairy products, 1.1 percent from 1.2 percent.

* In Metro Manila (MM), except for H&R whose rate decelerated to 3.4 percent in July from 3.6 percent in June, all other commodity groups went up in July. The rates for FBT increased by 1.1 percentage points; clothing and miscellaneous items, 0.2 percentage point; FLW, 1.2 percentage points; and services, 2.2 percentage points.

>The inflation rate for food alone in MM rose to 2.2 percent in July from 1.1 percent in June. Higher rates were recorded in the prices of corn, 5.2 percent from 2.1 percent; cereal preparations, 2.7 percent from 1.7 percent; eggs, -9.6 percent from 10.3 percent; fruits and vegetables, 5.4 percent from 2.2 percent; meat, zero growth from 2.1 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent. However, slower rates were noted in the prices of dairy products, 1.7 percent from 2.0 percent; and fish, 4.7 percent from 7.4 percent. Price of rice moved at its June rate of 1.1 percent.

® For areas outside Metro Manila (AOMM), the rates for FBT and FLW were correspondingly higher by 0.3 percentage point and 0.4 percentage point. Meanwhile, decreases were posted in services and clothing by 0.1 percentage point, and H&R by 0.5 percentage point. The rate for miscellaneous items continued to grow at 2.6 percent.

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  • The inflation rate for food alone rose to 2.1 percent in July from 1.7 percent in June.
  • The inflation rate for rice moved up to 1.7 percent in July from 1.0 percent in June. Ten regions registered higher rates. The biggest increase was still in Western Visayas at 3.1 percentage points.
  • The inflation rates for cereal preparations picked up to 3.1 percent in July from 3.0 percent in June; eggs, -0.5 percent from 0.8 percent; fish, 5.1 percent from 4.3 percent; meat, 0.9 percent from 0.6 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 0.1 percent from 0.3 percent. Lower rates were recorded in the prices of corn, 7.9 percent from 8.6 percent; dairy products, 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent; and fruits and vegetables, 2.1 percent from 2.6 percent.

> By Region, Year-on-Year

® The inflation rate for MM increased to 4.6 percent in July from 3.7 percent in June.

® Inflation in AOMM went up to 4.1 percent in July from 4.0 percent a month earlier. Nine regions posted higher inflation rates. The biggest increase was registered in Western Visayas at 0.8 percentage point followed by Central Mindanao at 0.4 percentage point. ARMM still recorded the highest rate at 10.0 percent while the lowest was still in Ilocos at 2.2 percent.

> By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month

® The month-on-month inflation rates for services slowed down to 1.0 percent in July from 4.0 percent last month and miscellaneous items, 0.1 percent from 3.4 percent. The indexes for FBT and FLW moved up to 0.3 percent and 1.2 percent from their corresponding rates of 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent last month. Clothing and H&R moved at their June rates of 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

• The price of rice advanced by 0.8 percent in July from 0.4 percent the previous month. Twelve regions posted higher month-on-month rates. The highest rate was in Bicol at 2.4 percent followed by Western Visayas at 2.1 percent. The price of rice in MM had zero growth this month from 0.3 percent last month.
• Typhoons Edeng and Ditang which hit the northern provinces pulled vegetable prices up in these areas including MM. In addition, floods in Central Luzon and Metro Manila constrained the flow of farm produce from the north; thus traders obtained their vegetable supplies from Bicol, Visayas and portions of Mindanao. This caused the fruits and vegetables index to increase in MM, 2.3 percent from 10.6 percent and 0.2 percent from zero in AOMM.
• Prices of miscellaneous foods in MM declined by 0.1 percent from an increase of 0.2 percent a month earlier as prices of salt, garlic, calamansi, coconut and vinegar were lower in July. However, in AOMM, higher prices of cooking oil, coffee, powdered tonic drink, sugar, calamansi, salt, garlic, and ginger raised the index to 0.4 percent from zero resulting to a 0.3 percent increase at the national level.
• Fish prices in MM moved at a faster rate of 1.0 percent in July from 6.1 percent while in AOMM, it picked up to 0.6 percent from zero in June. This resulted to an increment of 0.3 percent in the national index due to the bad weather conditions brought about by the two typhoons during the month.

® After hikes in tuition fees were registered last month the services index continued to rise by 2.1 percent, and 0.5 percent correspondingly for MM and AOMM. Prices were higher for some school supplies (notebooks, pad papers, and pencils), gasoline, diesel, engine oil and medicines.

® The FLW index picked up to 1.2 percent in July from 0.6 percent a month earlier. This was due to the higher prices of LPG and kerosene along with higher rates for electricity and water consumption in some regions and higher purchased power adjustment (PPA) and currency exchange rate adjustment (CERA) for electricity in MM.

> By Region, Month-on-Month

• Prices in MM climbed up to 0.6 percent in July from zero growth last month. The rates for FBT and FLW were correspondingly higher by 2.4 percentage points and 0.5 percentage point. On the other hand, H&R was lower by 0.1 percentage point; services, 1.8 percentage points; and miscellaneous items, 3.6 percentage points.
• Prices in AOMM moved at 0.4 percent in July, slower than 1.0 percent posted in June. Slower rates were seen in the prices of services, 0.5 percent in July from 4.0 percent in June; and miscellaneous items, 0.1 percent from 3.3 percent. Meanwhile, inflation for FBT was higher at 0.4 percent from 0.2 percent; and FLW, 1.0 percent from 0.4 percent. The H&R and clothing indexes moved at their June rates of 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent respectively. Compared to last month, all the regions except for Western Visayas recorded lower rates. The lowest rate was registered in Cagayan Valley at 0.1 percent while the highest was in Western Visayas at 0.8 percent.