By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year

Inflation in food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) slowed to 9.2 percent in March from 11.2 percent in February; services, 9.0 percent from 9.9 percent; miscellaneous items, 6.7 percent from 7.5 percent; and clothing, 7.5 percent from 8.1 percent. The rate for housing and repairs (H&R) remained at the February rate of 9.7 percent while that for fuel, light and water (FLW) increased in March to 4.3 percent from 3.5 percent.

> The inflation rate for rice was down to 7.1 percent from 7.5 percent last month. Six regions posted lower rates; the biggest decline was 3.6 percentage points in ARMM.

> Inflation rates for cereal preparations decelerated to 6.9 percent from 7.7 percent; dairy products, 5.5 percent from 7.1 percent; eggs, 12.1 percent from 12.4 percent; fish, 10.7 percent from 10.8 percent; fruits and vegetables, 22.4 percent from 33.2 percent; meat, 6.9 percent from 7.5 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 10.6 percent from 12.4 percent. The price of corn registered a faster rate of -2.0 percent from -3.7 percent.

By Region, Year-on-Year

The inflation rate for Metro Manila declined to 7.6 percent in March from 8.7 percent in February.

AOMM inflation slowed down to 9.2 percent from 10.4 percent. All the regions recorded lower inflation rates in March. The biggest decline was noted in Southern Tagalog at 2.5 percentage points followed by Ilocos at 2.3 percentage points. Southern Mindanao posted the lowest inflation rate at 6.1 percent while CARAGA recorded the highest rate at 12.6 percent.
 

By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month

Month-on-month inflation rates for FBT and services were lower by 0.5 percentage point and 0.4 percentage point, respectively. In contrast, the rates for H&R increased by 0.2 percentage point; FLW and miscellaneous items, by 0.4 percentage point. Meanwhile, the inflation rate for clothing remained at 0.4 percent.

> Inflation rate for fish in the Philippines and in AOMM remained at 0.3 percent. Metro Manila prices went up by 0.6 percent from 0.5 percent.

> In AOMM, prices of sugar, cooking oil and common spices such as garlic and ginger were priced lower in March resulting to a 0.6 percent decrease in the miscellaneous foods index. On the other hand, the rate in MM was 0.1 percent, which was lower than 0.5 percent in February.

> The price of rice slowed down to 0.1 percent in March from 0.5 percent in February. Ten regions registered either slowdowns or declines in March. The lowest rate was observed in Central Visayas at 2.2 percent while Eastern Visayas recorded the highest rate at 1.9 percent. In MM, the price of rice increased to 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent in February.

> Corn prices was down to 2.3 percent in the Philippines and in AOMM in March from their corresponding growths of 4.0 percent and 4.2 percent in February. In MM, it moved to -0.5 percent from 8.1 percent in February.

> Prices of cereal preparations also increased at a slower rate of 0.4 percent from 1.5 percent due to increases in the prices of bread, biscuit, native cakes and noodles.

> Prices of dairy products in AOMM posted zero growth from 0.5 percent in February while in MM, the index slowed down to 0.2 percent resulting to a 0.1 percent growth in the national index.

> Prices of eggs recorded a higher rate of 0.3 percent from 0.2 percent. In Metro Manila, the rate increased to 0.6 percent from its February level of 0.4 percent and in AOMM, it went up to 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent.

> In MM, prices of chicken continued to go down due to ample supply which in turn brought down the meat index by -0.6 percent. However, chicken prices in AOMM increased by 0.3 percent causing the national index to post a 0.1 percent growth.

> Prices of meals eaten outside increased at higher rates of 0.2 percent in the Philippines and 0.6 percent in Metro Manila.

Higher rental rates in most of the regions including MM and price mark-ups of some construction materials like cement, sand, common wire nails and tumbler switch caused the H&R index to increase in the national level and AOMM by 1.1 percent; and in MM, by 0.9 percent.

The MM index for miscellaneous items went up to 1.8 percent in March from 0.2 percent while AOMM registered a 0.3 percent increase, which was the same rate as in February, resulting to a 0.7 percent increment in the national index. This resulted from the increases in the prices of laundry soap, detergent, insecticide, floorwax, shampoo, lipstick, and other personal effects.

The FLW index rose to 0.5 percent from 0.1 percent in the Philippines, 0.4 percent from -0.6 percent in MM and 0.5 percent from 0.4 percent in AOMM. This was due to the increases in the prices of firewood, charcoal and LPG in many regions together with higher currency adjustment rate (CERA) and purchased power adjustment (PPA) for electricity in MM.

The clothing index went up at the same rate of 0.4 percent in the Philippines while in MM the index increased at a higher rate of 0.7 percent in March from -0.7 percent. In AOMM, the index also increased but at a slower rate of 0.3 percent from 0.7 percent. This was brought about by the increase in the prices of ready-made apparel, footwear and sewing accessories in many regions including Metro Manila.

Services decelerated to 0.2 percent from 0.7 percent in MM and AOMM resulting in a slowdown to 0.2 percent from 0.6 percent in the national level. This developed even with the increases in the prices of cassette tape, medicines, school supplies and in the wage of household help during the month along with higher dental charge and movie admission fee.
 

By Region, Month-on-Month

Prices in Metro Manila decreased to 0.3 percent in March which was the same rate in February. Lower rates were noted in the prices of FBT, 0.3 percentage point and services, 0.5 percentage point. However, miscellaneous items was higher by 1.6 percentage points, clothing, 1.4 percentage points; FLW, 1.0 percentage point; and H&R, 0.4 percentage point.

In AOMM, prices went down to -0.3 percent in March from 0.1 percent in February. While the FLW rate was higher by 0.1 percentage point and miscellaneous items retained its rate in February, all other commodity groups recorded lower month-on-month rates. FBT was lower by 0.6 percentage point; services, 0.5 percentage point; clothing, 0.4 percentage point; and H&R, 0.1 percentage point. Except for Eastern Visayas, and Southern Mindanao, all other regions posted lower rates. The highest rate was registered in CARAGA at 0.7 percent while the lowest rate was recorded in Ilocos at 1.2 percent.

Page Last Updated: April 6, 1999