| Year-on-Year Inflation Rates, All Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2016 | Jan 2016 | Feb 2015 | Year-to-date | |
| Philippines | ||||
| Headline | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 1.1 |
| Core | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 1.6 |
| NCR | ||||
| Headline | 0.1 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 0.4 |
| AONCR | ||||
| Headline | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 1.4 |
The headline inflation at the national level slowed down to 0.9 percent in February 2016. It was posted at 1.3 percent a month ago and 2.5 percent in February 2015. Annual declines were noted in the indices of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels and transport. Slower annual growths were also seen in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and clothing and footwear.
Excluding selected food and energy items, core inflation further decelerated to 1.5 percent in February 2016. It was recorded at 1.8 percent a month ago and 2.5 percent in February 2015.
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Likewise, inflation in NCR moved at a slower pace at 0.1 percent in February. Last month, it was pegged at 0.6 percent and in February 2015, 2.2 percent. The downtrend was due to the annual decrease noted in the indices of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels and transport.
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Following the same trend, inflation in Areas Outside NCR (AONCR) decelerated to 1.2 percent in February. Inflation was seen at 1.5 percent a month ago and 2.6 percent in February 2015. The indices for housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels and transport recorded negative annual rates. In addition, the indices of food and alcoholic beverages; clothing and footwear; and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house exhibited lower annual increases. The rest of the commodity groups either had higher annual increments or retained their previous month’s rate. The communication index continued to register a zero growth.
| Year-on-Year Inflation Rates in the Philippines, All Items January 2011 - February 2016 (2006=100) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Year | |||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| January | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.1 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 1.3 |
| February | 4.7 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 0.9 |
| March | 4.9 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 2.4 | |
| April | 4.7 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 2.2 | |
| May | 4.9 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 1.6 | |
| June | 5.2 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 4.4 | 1.2 | |
| July | 4.9 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 0.8 | |
| August | 4.6 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 4.9 | 0.6 | |
| September | 4.7 | 3.7 | 2.7 | 4.4 | 0.4 | |
| October | 5.2 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 0.4 | |
| November | 4.7 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 1.1 | |
| December | 4.2 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 2.7 | 1.5 | |
| Average | 4.6 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 1.4 | |
| Month-on-Month Inflation Rates, All Items (2006=100) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2016 | Jan 2016 | |
| Philippines | -0.3 | 0.2 |
| NCR | 0.1 | -0.2 |
| AONCR | -0.3 | 0.3 |
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Consumer prices in February 2016 generally dropped by 0.3 percent. This was primarily attributed to lower prices of the heavily-weighted food items such as fish, vegetables and fruits. Price rollbacks in gasoline and diesel nationwide and downward adjustments in ship fares in many regions also contributed to the downtrend.
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX
(2006=100)
FEBRUARY 2016
By Region, Year-on-Year
- Inflation in NCR further eased to 0.1 percent in February 2016.
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Similarly, inflation in AONCR went up at a slower pace of 1.2 percent in February. Bicol Region continued to post negative annual rate at -0.3 percent, the lowest among the regions. Moreover, ten regions registered slower annual growths. Meanwhile, the highest inflation at 3.0 percent remained in ARMM.
By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year
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At the national level, the annual change in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index dropped by 1.2 percent and transport index, -0.5 percent. In addition, slower annual increments posted in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and clothing and footwear improved to 1.5 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. On the other hand, annual increase in alcoholic beverages and tobacco was higher at 4.9 percent; health index, 1.9 percent; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services index, 1.5 percent. The communication index likewise inched up 0.1 percent. The rest of the commodity groups retained their previous month’s rates.
The food alone index in the Philippines further slowed down to 1.5 percent in February. Last month, it was pegged at 1.7 percent and in February 2015, 4.9 percent.
The index for rice still registered an annual decrease of 2.0 percent during the month. Lower annual add-ons were also seen in the indices of other cereals, flour, cereal preparation, bread, pasta and other bakery products at 1.0 percent; fish, 2.3 percent; milk, cheese and egg, 1.1 percent; fruits, 3.3 percent; and vegetables, 9.7 percent. On the other hand, the annual uptick in the corn index was higher at 1.8 percent; meat index, 0.9 percent; sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery index, 6.4 percent; and food products, not elsewhere classified index, 3.7 percent. Annual movement of oils and fats index remained at 0.2 percent.
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In NCR, the index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels further decreased by 3.0 percent. Likewise, the transport index declined by 1.6 percent. On the contrary, higher annual growths were exhibited in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 2.2 percent; clothing and footwear, 1.7 percent; health, 1.4 percent; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 0.5 percent. The rest of the commodity groups retained their last month’s rates.
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The annual change of the food alone index in NCR moved up 1.8 percent. It was the same rate observed last month and 5.2 percent in February 2015.
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A double digit annual growth was still posted in the corn index at 26.3 percent. Higher annual upticks were also recorded in the indices of meat at 2.8 percent; milk, cheese and egg, 0.3 percent; sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, 3.0 percent; and food products not elsewhere classified, 1.4 percent. The rest of the food groups either had slower annual gains or retained their previous month’s rates.
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- In AONCR, the index of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels declined by 0.3 percent and transport index, -0.1 percent. Moreover, the annual add-on in food and non-alcoholic beverages index decelerated to 1.4 percent; clothing and footwear index, 1.9 percent; and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house index, 1.8 percent. The rest of the commodity groups either had faster annual increments or retained their previous month’s rates with the communication index still recording a zero growth.
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The annual increase in the food alone index in AONCR slowed down to 1.4 percent in February 2016. It was pegged at 1.7 percent last month and 4.8 percent in February 2015.
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The rice index continued its downward movement as it registered an annual decrease of 1.9 percent in February 2016. Eleven regions recorded negative annual rates with Bicol Region posting the lowest rate of -10.5 percent. On the other hand, the highest annual growth remained in ARMM at 3.6 percent.
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In addition slower annual gain was observed in meat index at 0.3 percent; fish index, 2.6 percent; milk, cheese and egg index, 1.3 percent; and vegetables index, 8.8 percent. The rest of the food groups either had faster annual growths or retained their previous month’s rates.
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By Region, Month-on-Month
Prices of consumer items in NCR inched up 0.1 percent in February. Last month, it settled to -0.2 percent. This was due to the 0.7 percent growth exhibited by housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels index. In addition, the indices of recreation and culture and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services correspondingly went up by 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent from a zero growth. Meanwhile, the monthly gain of alcoholic beverages and tobacco index was slower at 0.2 percent and clothing and footwear index, 0.1 percent. The indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and transport correspondingly dropped by 0.2 percent and 0.7 percent. The health index moved at its previous month’s rate of 0.1 percent. Other commodity groups had zero growth.
From a 0.3 percent increase last month, consumer prices in AONCR dropped by 0.3 percent in February. Downward adjustments were noticed in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages at -0.7 percent; transport, -0.9 percent; and communication, -0.1 percent. Slowdowns in the monthly growths were also noted in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 0.7 percent; clothing and footwear, 0.1 percent; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, 0.1 percent; and health, 0.3 percent. A higher rate of 0.2 percent was, however, observed in restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services index. Movement in recreation and culture index remained at 0.1 percent while other commodity groups had zero growth.
Twelve regions recorded negative rates. Moreover, slower monthly increments were seen in MIMAROPA while Eastern Visayas and SOCCSKSARGEN had zero growth. The lowest month-on-month rate of -0.7 percent was posted in CALABARZON.
Prices of consumer items in Luzon areas generally moved downward by 0.2 percent while those in Visayas and Mindanao areas, -0.1 percent.
By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month
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Prices of consumer goods at the national level decreased by 0.3 percent in February. This was mainly effected by the 0.6 percent drop in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index. Likewise, the transport index went down by 0.9 percent. In addition, slower monthly gains were observed in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 0.6 percent; clothing and footwear, 0.1 percent; and health, 0.3 percent. On the other hand, a 0.2 percent increase was seen in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels from -0.2 percent last month. Moreover, the indices for recreation and culture and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services moved up by 0.2 percent while that for furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house index remained at 0.2 percent. A zero growth was recorded in the indices of communication and education.
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Abundant supplies of vegetables in the markets, particularly onions, tomatoes, okra and chayote pushed down their prices during the period. Thus, the group’s index in AONCR fell by 5.1 percent and in NCR, -4.9 percent. The national index for vegetables declined by 5.0 percent.
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Reductions in the prices of many fish species due to the favorable weather conditions brought sufficient supplies of fish in the markets during the month. This factor resulted to a 0.9 percent drop in its group’s index in AONCR. However, the index for fish in NCR rose by 1.4 percent due to bigger demand for fish as consumers shifted from meat to fish due to “avian flu scare”. At the national level, the fish index decreased by 0.7 percent.
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The index for fruits in AONCR shrank by 0.5 percent and in NCR, -1.2 percent. This was brought about by the sufficient inflow of summer fruits in the markets like mango and citrus fruits and the commonly bought fruits like banana and papaya. For the Philippines, the index fell by 0.6 percent.
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Price cuts in gasoline and diesel nationwide together with the downward adjustments in ship fares in many regions during the month pushed down the transport index by 0.9 percent in AONCR and by 0.7 percent in NCR. At the country level, the group’s index contracted by 0.9 percent.
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Higher prices of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages were still observed in many regions. Thus, the index for alcoholic beverages and tobacco in NCR inched up by 0.2 percent and in AONCR, 0.7 percent. For the Philippines, the group’s index went up 0.6 percent.
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Charges in selected medical and hospital services were higher in NCR and in some provinces. In addition, increments in the prices of medicines and selected medical products in many provinces were also observed during the month. Thus, the health index increased by 0.3 percent in AONCR and 0.1 percent in NCR. At the national level, the group’s index picked up 0.3 percent.
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Selected clothing and footwear items were priced higher in NCR and in some provinces. Hence, the group’s index advanced 0.1 percent in NCR and AONCR. The national index gained 0.1 percent.
Note: CPIs and inflation rates by province and selected city are also available upon request at Philippine Statistics Authority, Economic Sector Statistics Service, Price Statistics Division (Telephone Number: 376-19-59).
(Sgd.) ROMEO S. RECIDE
Deputy National Statistician
Sectoral Statistics Office
