| Year-on-Year Inflation Rates, All Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2014 | Oct 2014 | Nov 2013 | Year-to-date | |
| Philippines | ||||
| Headline | 3.7 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 4.3 |
| Core | 2.7 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
| NCR | ||||
| Headline | 2.4 | 3.6 | 1.9 | 3.4 |
| AONCR | ||||
| Headline | 4.0 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 4.6 |
Year-on-year headline inflation in the Philippines further decelerated to 3.7 percent in November. It was 4.3 percent last month and 3.3 percent during the same month last year. The slower annual rates exhibited in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; and transport brought about the downtrend.
Excluding selected food and energy items, core inflation slowed down to 2.7 percent in November. Last month, it was recorded at 3.2 percent and in November 2013, 2.8 percent.
Similarly, inflation in the National Capital Region (NCR) settled to 2.4 percent in November. Inflation was 3.6 percent in October 2014 and 1.9 percent in November 2013. This was mainly due to the annual decreases posted in the indices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and transport. Lower annual increases were also noted in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; and health.
Inflation in Areas Outside NCR (AONCR) continued to move slowly at 4.0 percent in November. It was 4.5 percent last month and in November 2013, 3.8 percent. The slowdown can be attributed to the deceleration in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; health; transport; and recreation and culture.
| Year-on-Year Inflation Rates in the Philippines, All Items January 2009 - November 2014 (2006=100) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Year | |||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| January | 7.1 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.1 | 4.2 |
| February | 7.2 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 4.1 |
| March | 6.7 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| April | 5.6 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 4.1 |
| May | 4.3 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 4.5 |
| June | 3.2 | 3.6 | 5.2 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 4.4 |
| July | 2.2 | 3.7 | 4.9 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 4.9 |
| August | 1.7 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 4.9 |
| September | 2.3 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 2.7 | 4.4 |
| October | 2.9 | 3.3 | 5.2 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 4.3 |
| November | 3.5 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 3.7 |
| December | 4.4 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 4.1 | |
| Average | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 3.2 | 3.0 | |
| Month-on-Month Inflation Rates, All Items (2006=100) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2014 | Oct 2014 | |
| Philippines | - 0.1 | 0.1 |
| NCR | - 0.3 | 0.0 |
| AONCR | - 0.1 | 0.1 |
Prices of consumer items generally dropped by 0.1 percent in November. A 0.1 percent growth was posted last month. Lower charges in the electricity rates in most of the regions and rollbacks in prices of LPG, kerosene, gasoline and diesel nationwide were noted during the month. Contributing to the negative growth were cheaper prices of pork, chicken, fish and vegetables in NCR. In addition, price reductions were also noted in rice, pork, chicken and sugar in many regions.
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX
(2006=100)
NOVEMBER 2014
By Region, Year-on-Year
- Annual inflation in NCR eased to 2.4 percent in November.
Likewise, inflation in AONCR continued to move at slower pace of 4.0 percent in November. Except in CAR and Western Visayas, all the regions posted lower annual rates. The lowest annual growth of 3.2 percent was seen in CALABARZON while the highest rate was still observed in Eastern Visayas at 5.8 percent.
By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year
At the national level, rates in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages slowed to 6.5 percent in November; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, 0.3 percent; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, 2.7 percent; and transport, 0.2 percent. The rest of the commodity groups either had faster annual growths or retained their last month’s rate.
The year-on-year growth of the food alone index in the Philippines decelerated to 6.7 percent in November 2014. It was pegged at 7.2 percent last month and 4.0 percent in November 2013.
All the food groups recorded slower annual upticks except the milk, cheese and egg index.
In NCR, the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index went down by 1.4 percent and transport index, -0.2 percent. Moreover, the annual mark-up in food and non-alcoholic beverages index improved to 5.7 percent; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house index, 4.3 percent; and health index, 5.1 percent. Growths in the other commodity groups either went up or remained at their previous month’s rates.
The food alone index in NCR continued to decelerate at 5.9 percent in November. Last month, its annual growth was 6.8 percent and during the same period last year, 3.7 percent.
The vegetable index further declined by 4.3 percent in November. Moreover, annual add-ons in meat and sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery indices slipped to 5.1 percent; fish index, 5.3 percent; fruit index, 4.4 percent; and food products not elsewhere classified index, 6.0 percent.
In AONCR, the food and non-alcoholic beverage index continued to slow down at 6.7 percent in November; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index, 1.0 percent; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house index, 2.1 percent; health index, 3.0 percent; transport index, 0.4 percent; and recreation and culture index, 1.0 percent. The rest of the commodity groups had either faster annual gain or retained their last month’s rates.
On an annual basis, the food alone index in AONCR moved slower at 6.9 percent in November. Its growth in October 2014 was 7.4 percent and in November 2013, 4.0 percent.
A slower increase of 10.2 percent was noted in the rice index in AONCR. Ten regions had lower annual growths with CAR still recording the lowest rate of 5.8 percent. Meanwhile, the highest growth remained in Central Luzon at 14.6 percent.
All the other food groups had lower annual increments except the indices of milk, cheese and egg and fruit which posted faster annual upticks of 4.6 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively.
By Region, Month-on-Month
Consumer prices in NCR generally declined by 0.3 percent in November. A zero growth was posted in October 2014. A downward adjustment was observed in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index at -0.1 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index, -1.0 percent; and transport index, -0.7 percent. Moreover, the alcoholic beverages and tobacco index decelerated by 0.1 percent. On the contrary, the clothing and footwear index ticked by 0.3 percent. The rest of the commodity groups had zero growths.
The index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels further decreased by 0.7 percent and transport index, -0.5 percent in AONCR, thus, the all items index dropped by 0.1 percent in November. Contributing to the downtrend were the slower rates recorded in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house index at 0.1 percent. The rest of the commodity groups registered higher monthly rates while others had zero growth with the index of health retaining its previous month’s rate of 0.1 percent.
Eight regions had negative monthly rates with CALABARZON and Northern Mindanao having the lowest rate at -0.3 percent. Meanwhile, Western Visayas had the highest monthly gain of 0.3 percent in November.
Among the three big areas of the country, prices of consumer items in general, moved downward in Luzon and Mindanao compared to those in Visayas areas.
By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month
Consumer prices in the Philippines dropped by 0.1 percent in November from its October level. Decreases were noted in the indices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and transport at -0.8 percent and -0.5 percent, respectively. In addition, a slower increase of 0.1 percent was recorded in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house. Faster rates were, however, registered correspondingly in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services at 0.7 percent and 0.2 percent. The rest of the commodity groups retained their last month’s rate or had zero growth.
The rice index in the Philippines went down by 0.1 percent and in AONCR, -0.2 percent. The monthly hike in the group’s index in NCR decelerated to 0.6 percent. This was due to sufficient supplies of rice in the markets brought about by the harvest season of palay in many provinces.
Reductions in the prices of fresh meat such as pork and chicken pushed down the meat index in the three areas by 0.1 percent.
Vegetable prices in NCR markets were notably lower during the month brought about by the inflows of supplies from different provinces. Cheaper prices were observed in onions, chayote, baguio beans, mustasa, upo, pechay and ampalaya. This factor caused a 0.2 percent decline in the vegetable index in the Philippines and in NCR, -4.0 percent. Meanwhile, the group’s index in AONCR went up by 0.5 percent due to the upward price adjustments in cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, garlic and onions in many provinces.
Lower prices of sea foods such as crabs and shrimps in NCR markets mainly resulted to the 0.3 percent reduction in the fish index in the area. Price decreases in selected marine and aqua culture fish species were also noted in NCR during the month. Likewise, shrimps and crabs were also priced lower in selected regions. However, this factor did not push down the fish index in AONCR as many regions recorded higher prices of selected fresh fish species with the onset of cold mornings which limited fishing trips of fishermen. Hence, the fish index at the national level gained 0.6 percent and AONCR, 0.8 percent.
Price cuts in sugar resulted to a 0.5 percent decrease in the group’s index of sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery in AONCR. The group’s index in NCR, however, had a zero growth as higher prices in brown sugar were offset by the declines in the prices of refined and washed sugar. At the national level, the group’s index dropped by 0.4 percent.
Increments in the prices of out-of-season fruits raised the fruit index in the three areas: Philippines, 0.8 percent; NCR, 0.5 percent; and AONCR, 0.9 percent. Upward price adjustments in canned and processed/preserved fruits were also noticed in many regions.
Lower charges in the electricity rates were noted in most of the regions. In addition, prices of LPG and kerosene generally went down nationwide. Prices of selected construction materials in many provinces also decreased during the month. Hence, the index for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels declined in the three areas: Philippines, -0.8 percent; NCR, -1.0 percent; and AONCR, -0.7 percent.
The transport index in the Philippines and AONCR further sank by 0.5 percent and in NCR, -0.7 percent. This was due to the series of price rollbacks in gasoline and diesel nationwide.
The group’s index for restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services in the Philippines and AONCR advanced 0.2 percent resulting from higher prices of some items for personal care and effects in selected provinces. Meanwhile, the group’s index in NCR had a zero growth during the month.
Note:
CPIs and inflation rates by province and selected city are also available upon request at NSO, Industry and Trade Statistics Department, Economic Indices and Indicators Division (Telephone Numbers: 716-39-35 and 715-33-47).
(Sgd.) LISA GRACE S. BERSALES, Ph.D.
National Statistician
