JULY AND JUNE 2002

• Year-on-year inflation further slowed down to 2.6 percent in July from 3.0 percent in June as the inflation rates of all the commodity groups except for clothing decelerated. This is the lowest rate recorded since February 2000. Inflation a year ago was 6.8 percent.

  • Likewise, inflation in the National Capital Region (NCR) went down by 0.8 percentage point at 2.9 percent in July from 3.7 percent in June, the lowest inflation since March 2000. This was brought about by the slow down in the inflation rates of all the commodity groups except for miscellaneous items.

  • Inflation rate in Areas Outside the National Capital Region (AONCR) slightly slid to 2.5 percent in July from 2.6 percent in June due to the slowdown in the inflation rates of food, beverages and tobacco (FBT), fuel, light and water (FLW) and services.

• Higher month-on-month inflation in FBT, clothing and housing and repairs (H&R) resulted to a 0.2 percent increase in July, the same rate posted for five consecutive months.

  

>By Region, Year-on-Year

*The inflation rate for the National Capital Region (NCR) eased by 0.8 percentage points at 2.9 percent in July from 3.7 percent in June.

*Inflation in Areas Outside the National Capital Region (AONCR) slightly fell to 2.5 percent in July from 2.6 percent in June. Ten regions recorded lower inflation rates. The biggest decline was registered in Bicol and Eastern Visayas at 0.7 percentage point. The lowest inflation rate was noted in Cagayan Valley at 1.1 percent while the highest was in Southern Mindanao at 3.7 percent.

>By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year

Except for clothing and miscellaneous items whose rates stayed at their corresponding June levels of 2.6 percent and 1.8 percent, all the other commodity groups posted slower rates in July. The inflation rate for FBT moved down to 1.6 percent in July from 1.8 percent in June; H&R, 4.8 percent from 5.0 percent; FLW, 1.0 percent from 3.7 percent; and services, 4.5 percent from 4.9 percent.

• The inflation rate for food alone slightly slid to 1.5 percent in July from 1.6 percent in June. The price of meat posted a negative rate of 0.1 percent from zero growth. In addition, prices of cereal preparations eased to 2.8 percent in July from 3.0 percent in June; dairy products, 2.1 percent from 3.0 percent; eggs, 0.1 percent from 3.3 percent; fish, 3.0 percent from 3.3 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 2.2 percent from 3.1 percent. On the other hand, the price of rice picked up to 1.1 percent from 0.6 percent while prices of fruits and vegetables recorded a zero growth from 1.0 percent.

In NCR, except for miscellaneous items whose inflation remained at 0.8 percent in July, all the other commodity groups decelerated. The inflation rate for FBT was slower by 0.1 percentage point; clothing, 0.4 percent; H&R, 0.9 percentage point; FLW, 5.4 percentage points; and services, 0.4 percentage point.

• The inflation rate for food alone in NCR was 0.9 percent in July, lower than the 1.0 percent recorded in June. The price of corn further declined to 18.7 percent from 12.4 percent and eggs, -7.4 percent from 1.0 percent. The price of rice still posted a negative rate of 0.3 percent. Slower rates were also observed in the prices of cereal preparations, 3.2 percent from 3.6 percent; dairy products, 3.1 percent from 4.0 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 1.6 percent from 4.0 percent. Meanwhile, prices of fish went up to 1.9 percent from 0.7 percent and fruits and vegetables, 2.6 percent from 0.5 percent.

In AONCR, the rate of clothing rose to 2.4 percent in July from 2.3 percent in June and H&R, 4.2 percent from 3.8 percent. However, FBT eased to 1.8 percent from 1.9 percent; FLW, 0.7 percent from 2.0 percent; and services, 4.4 percent from 4.8 percent. Miscellaneous items moved at its June rate of 2.1 percent.

• Inflation rate for food alone slipped to 1.6 percent in July from 1.8 percent in June.

• A negative rate was still noticed in the index of fruits and vegetables, -0.8 percent in July from -1.3 percent in June. Lower growths were also noted in the prices of cereal preparations, 2.6 percent from 2.8 percent; dairy products, 1.7 percent from 2.6 percent; eggs, 2.7 percent from 4.1 percent; fish, 3.2 percent from 4.1 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 2.5 percent from 2.7 percent. However, the price of corn went up to 1.3 percent from 0.8 percent while the price of meat remained at 0.7 percent.

• The price of rice moved up to 1.3 percent in July from 0.8 percent in June as eleven regions posted higher rates. The biggest jump at 4.7 percentage points was noted in Central Mindanao followed by Southern Mindanao at 2.9 percentage points.

>By Region, Month-on-Month

Prices in NCR remained stable as it posted zero growth in July from 0.6 percent in June. Clothing and miscellaneous items also registered zero growths in July. The rate of FBT increased to 0.6 percent in July from 0.5 percent in June while H&R stayed at its previous month's rate of 0.1 percent. On the other hand, the rate of FLW was still negative at -3.6 percent from 12.3 percent last month.

Prices in AONCR registered a 0.3 percent increase in July, slower than 0.6 percent in June. The rate of FLW decreased to 0.8 percent from 0.6 percent while services slid to 0.1 percent from 2.2 percent. The rate in the previous month was retained for clothing and miscellaneous items at 0.2 percent. The highest month-on-month rate at 1.6 percent was observed in ARMM while Cagayan Valley posted the lowest rate at 0.1 percent.

>By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month

The month-on-month inflation rate for FBT grew to 0.5 percent in July from 0.1 percent in June; clothing, 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent; and H&R, 0.4 percent from 0.3 percent. On the other hand, services and miscellaneous items correspondingly slipped to 0.1 percent and 0.1 percent from their respective last month's rates of 2.6 percent and 0.2 percent. FLW index still recorded a negative rate of 1.8 percent from 4.3 percent last month.

The price of rice in NCR moved up by 0.1 percent in July from 0.2 percent in June. Likewise, the price of rice in AONCR went up to 1.1 percent from 0.5 percent as ten regions posted higher rates. All these added to a 0.9 percent increment in the price of rice for the Philippines.

The closure of all exit points in Benguet brought about by landslides and floods due to the typhoons that hit the country during the month caused insufficient supply of vegetables in NCR, thus raising prices of vegetables in the area. In addition, prices of some fruits also went up. These caused the fruits and vegetables index in the area to grow by 4.5 percent in July from 4.1 percent in June. In AONCR, increments in the prices of vegetables were also observed as most of the vegetable producing regions posted higher rates. The national index rose by 2.1 percent from 0.7 percent.

Low supply of brackish water fish species and marine fishes brought about by the constant downpour in NCR as the four typhoons (Gloria, Hambalos, Juan and Kaka) were experienced in July resulted to price increments of fish. Thus, a 1.7 percent growth in the group's index was recorded from 0.2 percent last month. Despite of the negative rates registered by the provinces in Luzon, prices of fish in AONCR went up by 0.4 percent from 0.2 percent as price increments were noted in Visayas and Mindanao. Overall, the fish index rose to 0.6 percent from 0.1 percent.

Price hikes in selected spices and seasonings pushed up the miscellaneous foods indices in the Philippines and AONCR by 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. However, lower prices of ginger and mature coconut in NCR further pulled down the group's index to 0.4 percent in July from 0.2 percent in June.

Lower prices of fresh chicken in many regions including NCR were noted in July as chicken retailers in public markets brought down its prices to compete with the low prices of chilled and frozen chicken at the supermarkets. This pushed down the meat index in the three areas: Philippines, -0.3 percent from 0.1 percent; NCR, -0.5 percent from 0.1 percent; and AONCR, -0.1 percent from 0.2 percent.

*Reduction in the prices of kerosene, LPG and charcoal along with the lower charge for electricity observed in many regions pulled down the FLW index in AONCR by 0.8 percent in July. In NCR, the decline in the price of kerosene and the downtrend in the purchased power adjustment (PPA) lowered the index by 3.6 percent. The national index continued to drop at 1.8 percent in July from its June rate of 4.3 percent.

*Upward adjustments in the prices of selected construction materials (gravel, bamboo pole and paint) in many regions raised the H&R indices in NCR and AONCR by 0.1 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. Thus, the national index grew by 0.4 percent in July.

*Add-ons in the prices of medicines and some medical and health goods along with the higher charge for personal services brought a 0.1 percent increment in the services indices in the three areas: This was however slower than their last month's rates of 2.6 percent in the Philippines, 3.3 percent in NCR and 2.2 percent in AONCR.

The second survey result from Lanao del Sur was not received as of August 2, 2002.

Note: Revisions in the June 2002 inflation figures in the Philippines and AONCR were due to updates in tuition fees reported by some provinces (after confirmation was made in the sample schools) that were not reflected in June.