• Inflation however, went up in NCR at 0.8 percent in July. It was posted at 0.6 percent last month and 3.9 percent during the same period in 2014. Higher annual growths were recorded in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages; clothing and footwear; and communication.

• Following the same trend at the national level, inflation in Areas Outside NCR (AONCR) further eased to 0.8 percent in July. Inflation was observed at 1.4 percent last month and 5.1 percent in July 2014. The indices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; transport; and communication declined. In addition, lower annual increments were noticed in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages; clothing and footwear; health; and education.

• The country’s consumer prices inched up 0.1 percent in July 2015, the same rate posted last month. Price increases were registered in corn, meat, eggs, vegetables and sugar. Prices of selected items for personal hygiene and effects, medicines and clothing and footwear items also went up during the month. Higher charges for selected services items such as medical, hospital, personal care, cleaning and sewing for clothing were also noted in some regions.

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  CONSUMER PRICE INDEX
  (2006=100)
  JULY 2015

By Region, Year-on-Year

• Inflation in NCR rose to 0.8 percent in July.

• Meanwhile, inflation in AONCR further improved to 0.8 percent in July as 11 regions had lower annual growths. The highest inflation remained in Davao Region at 2.6 percent. CALABARZON recorded a zero growth due to offsetting trends among the commodity groups.

By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year

• The annual change in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and transport indices at the national level correspondingly went down by 1.1 percent and -0.5 percent in July. Moreover, slower annual mark-ups were observed in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 1.3 percent; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, 1.8 percent; health, 1.9 percent; and education, 3.5 percent. The clothing and footwear index however, increased faster at 2.6 percent. The rest of the commodity groups retained their last month’s rate with the communication index having a zero growth.

  The annual adjustment of the country’s food alone index further eased to 1.3 percent in July. Last month, it exhibited an annual rate of 2.1 percent and in July 2014, 8.7 percent.

  On an annual basis, the vegetable index further decreased by 3.6 percent in July. In addition, the indices of corn and oils and fats dropped by 0.5 percent and -0.3 percent, respectively. Except for the index of meat, all the other food groups had lower annual rates. The meat index retained its last month’s rate.

• In NCR, the annual gain in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages was higher at 1.6 percent in July; clothing and footwear index, 3.1 percent; and communication index, 0.2 percent. The other commodity groups either had slower annual growths or retained their last month’s rate except for the index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels which continued to drop at -1.3 percent.

  • The food alone index in NCR moved up by 1.6 percent in July. It grew by 0.8 percent last month and 8.2 percent in July 2014.

  • Bigger annual increments were seen in the indices of corn, meat and vegetables. Annual declines or slower annual add-ons were however, recorded in the rest of the food groups except for the index of other cereal, flour, cereal preparation, bread, pasta and other bakery products which retained its previous month’s figure of 1.5 percent.

• In AONCR, annual decreases were still posted in the indices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at -1.1 percent; transport, -0.9 percent; and communication, -0.2 percent. In addition, the food and non-alcoholic beverages index slowed to 1.2 percent; clothing and footwear index, 2.3 percent; health index, 1.7 percent; and education index, 3.0 percent. On the other hand, the index for restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services had a higher annual growth of 1.6 percent while the rest of the commodity groups retained their last month’s rates.

  • The annual growth of the food alone index in AONCR further eased to 1.2 percent in July. Last month, the growth was noted at 2.4 percent and in July 2014, 8.8 percent.

  • The corn index fell by 0.6 percent; oils and fats index, -0.5 percent; and vegetables index, -5.8 percent.

  • The rice index further slackened to 0.2 percent as all the regions continued to have either negative annual rates or slower annual upticks. SOCCSKSARGEN had the lowest rate at -7.6 percent while the highest remained in Central Luzon at 3.2 percent.

By Region, Month-on-Month

By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month

• The country’s consumer prices gained 0.1 percent in July, the same rate posted last month. Higher growths were observed in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and health at 0.4 percent and communication, 0.1 percent. The indices of recreation and culture and education however, eased to 0.1 percent while the transport index went down by 0.2 percent. The rest of the commodity groups retained their last month’s rate.

  • Vegetables, specifically tomatoes, eggplant, cabbage, bitter gourd, okra, stringbeans, carrot and pechay, were priced higher in most of the regions during the month. The continuous rains brought about by typhoons “Egay” and “Falcon” resulted to difficulty in transporting some vegetables coming from the producing areas to the markets. Moreover, spoilage of some vegetables due to their exposure to continuous rains limited their supplies in the markets. Hence, the vegetables index in NCR jumped in double-digit at 14.7 percent. Likewise, the group’s index in AONCR advanced by 1.1 percent and at the national level, 3.2 percent.

  • Prices of chicken and pork in many regions including NCR went up during the month resulting to lesser supplies in the markets. Increased prices in fresh beef, canned and processed meat were also noticed in many regions. Thus, the meat index climbed 1.9 percent in NCR; 0.4 percent in AONCR; and at the national level, 0.7 percent.

  • Upward adjustments in the prices of corn on the cob raised the corn index in NCR by 2.4 percent. Meanwhile, the general price upticks in corn in many regions were tempered by the lower prices registered in the regions of Central Luzon, CALABARZON and MIMAROPA. Hence, the corn index in AONCR and Philippines moved up at slower pace of 0.6 percent.

  • The increments in the prices of milk, cheese and egg resulted to a 0.1 percent growth in its group’s index in the Philippines and AONCR and 0.2 percent in NCR.

  • Add-ons observed in the index for sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery in NCR at 0.1 percent and AONCR at 0.4 percent were due to higher prices of sugar. At the national level, the group’s index increased by 0.4 percent.

  • The rice index in the Philippines and AONCR fell by 0.1 percent due to lower prices in most of the regions brought about by abundant supplies in the markets. In NCR, a lower monthly growth of 0.1 percent was also noticed as price mark-ups in glutinous rice, regular milled and special rice were softened by the reductions in the prices of NFA and well milled rice.

  • The peak harvest season of calamansi brought enough supplies and together with the improved supplies of ginger they pushed down prices of these items in the markets. Lower prices of sauces in many regions were also noted during the period. These factors resulted to negative rates in the index for food products not elsewhere classified in the three areas: Philippines, -0.7 percent; NCR, -3.3 percent; and AONCR, -0.2 percent.

  • Negative rates were still seen in the fruit index in NCR at -0.5 percent and -0.4 percent in AONCR. Abundant supplies of banana, papaya and pineapple in the markets made their prices cheaper in July. In the Philippines, the group’s index decreased by 0.4 percent.

• The index for restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services in the three areas inched up by 0.2 percent during the month. This was brought about by the upward adjustments in the prices of selected items for personal care in most of the regions. Charges for selected personal care services in NCR also went up during the month.

• Price gains in medicines in most of the regions together with higher charges for selected medical services in some province raised the health index by 1.0 percent in NCR; 0.2 percent in AONCR; and 0.4 percent in the Philippines. Increased charges in hospital services in NCR also contributed to the uptrend.

• The clothing and footwear index in the Philippines rose 0.2 percent; NCR, 0.6 percent; and AONCR, 0.1 percent. This was due to price mark-ups in selected clothing and footwear items in many regions and higher charges for cleaning and sewing services for clothing items in NCR and some provinces.

• The nationwide series of price rollbacks in gasoline and diesel during the month resulted to a 0.2 percent decline in the transport index in AONCR and -0.4 percent in NCR. Contributing also to the downtrend were lower ship fares in many provinces and price reductions in LPG auto gas in NCR. At the national level, the transport index fell by 0.2 percent.

Note:

CPIs and inflation rates by province and selected city are also available upon request at Philippine Statistics Authority, Economic Sector Statistics Services, Economic Indices and Indicators Division (Telephone Numbers: 716-39-35 and 715-33-47).

(Sgd.) LISA GRACE S. BERSALES, Ph.D.
National Statistician