Series September August Year-to-date 1994-based 10.0 10.5 9.4 1988-based 9.3 9.5 8.5 

 Series September August 1994-based 0.4 0.5 1988-based 0.3 0.2 

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (1994=100) SEPTEMBER 1998

• By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year
• Except for fuel, light and water (FLW), the rates for all other commodity groups slowed down. Food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) slowed down to 9.3 percent from 9.7 percent; clothing, 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent; housing and repairs (H&R), 10.8 percent from 12.4 percent; services, 14.2 percent from 14.9 percent; and miscellaneous items, 9.2 percent from 9.5 percent. The rate for FLW picked up to 6.8 percent from 5.8 percent.
• The inflation rate for food alone was 9.3 percent in September, lower than 9.8 percent recorded in August. Slower rates were noted in the prices of fruits and vegetables, 15.5 percent from 21.2 percent; corn, 3.4 percent from 6.1 percent; fish, 9.2 percent from 10.8 percent; dairy products, 14.5 percent from 14.8 percent; cereal preparations, 13.1 percent from 13.2 percent; and meals outside, 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent. However, higher rates were posted in the prices of rice, 4.4 percent from 3.1 percent; cereals, 4.3 percent from 3.3 percent; eggs, 13.2 percent from 12.3 percent; meat, 7.3 percent from 7.0 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 11.7 percent from 11.2 percent.
• In Metro Manila (MM), the rates for FBT and FLW were higher by 0.3 and 3.1 percentage points, respectively. On the other hand, the rates for clothing, H&R, services, and miscellaneous items were correspondingly lower by 0.4 percentage point, 0.9 percentage point, 0.3 percentage point and 0.2 percentage point.
• The inflation for food alone in MM moved up to 8.6 percent from 8.3 percent. Lower rates were posted in the prices of eggs, 23.8 percent from 24.7 percent; dairy products, 13.2 percent from 13.3 percent; fruits and vegetables, 13.4 percent from 17.1 percent; and meals eaten outside, 1.6 percent from 2.0 percent. However, higher rates were recorded in the prices of corn, 9.2 percent from 6.5 percent; cereal preparations, 15.4 percent from 11.0 percent; meat, 6.7 percent from 6.1 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 5.8 percent from 5.7 percent. The price of rice decreased to -0.1 percent from -1.2 percent. The price of cereals had a zero growth in September from its previous rate of -1.1 percent in August while the rate for fish remained at 15.7 percent.
• For areas outside Metro Manila (AOMM), all the commodity groups registered slower inflation rates except for FLW whose inflation rate moved up by 0.2 percentage point. The rates for FBT in September decreased by 0.6 percentage point; clothing, by 0.1 percentage point; H&R, by 2.1 percentage points; services, by 0.8 percentage point; and miscellaneous items by 0.3 percentage point.
• The inflation rate for food alone slowed down to 9.6 percent from 10.2 percent.
• The inflation rate for rice rose to 5.1 percent from 3.8 percent in August. Thirteen regions posted higher rates, the highest being 12.8 percent in Western Mindanao.
• Inflation rates for corn moved down to 3.3 percent from 6.1 percent last month; cereal preparations, 12.3 percent from 14.1 percent; dairy products, 15.1 percent from 15.4 percent; fish, 7.7 percent from 9.6 percent; fruits and vegetables, 16.2 percent from 22.4 percent; and meals eaten outside, 9.8 percent from 10.2 percent. Higher rates were noted in the prices of cereals, 4.9 percent from 4.0 percent; eggs, 10.0 percent from 8.6 percent; meat, 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 14.4 percent from 13.8 percent.
• By Region, Year-on-Year
• The inflation rate for Metro Manila went up to 10.8 percent in September from 10.7 percent in August.
• AOMM registered a rate of 9.7 percent, lower than the 10.4 percent posted last month. The biggest decline was noted in Southern Tagalog at 2.0 percentage points followed by Central Visayas at 1.8 percentage points. Western Visayas and Central Mindanao recorded the lowest rate at 8.5 percent while the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) posted the highest inflation rate at 11.8 percent.
• By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month
• Month-on-month inflation rates for the following groups slowed down: FBT, 0.3 percent in September from 0.4 percent in August; H&R, 0.3 percent from 0.7 percent; FLW, 0.2 percent from 0.7 percent; services, 0.4 percent from 0.9 percent; and miscellaneous items, 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent. On the other hand, inflation rate for clothing went up to 0.6 percent from 0.4 percent.
• The price of rice went up to 1.9 percent in September from 0.5 percent in August. Month-on-month rates increased in 14 regions, including Metro Manila. The highest rate was observed in Western Mindanao at 5.2 percent while Metro Manila registered the lowest rate at 0.3 percent.
• Prices of cereals also posted a higher rate of 1.4 percent from 0.6 percent. In AOMM, the rate increased to 1.5 percent from its August 1998 level of 0.7 percent. In Metro Manila, it went up to 0.3 percent from -0.5 percent.
• The dairy products index grew by 0.2 percent in September from 0.1 percent in August. In Metro Manila and AOMM, inflation rates for dairy products increased by 0.1 percentage point each.
• The index for eggs also increased but at a slower rate of 1.0 percent from 1.5 percent last month due to increase in prices of eggs in AOMM. Metro Manila posted zero growth from 2.5 percent in August.
• Prices of fish in Metro Manila posted a zero growth from 1.4 percent in August while in AOMM, the index went up by 0.1 percent resulting to a 0.1 growth in the national index.
• Corn prices in the Philippines and AOMM decreased to -4.1 percent and -4.2 percent, respectively, in September from 1.2 percent last month due to good production in the Visayas and Mindanao. Metro Manila prices went up by 3.3 percent from -0.2 percent.
• The fruits and vegetables index in all regions except Eastern Visayas declined resulting to a -2.6 percent drop in the national index. Prices of vegetables were down during the first 3 weeks of the month in many regions and in Metro Manila although these picked up towards the end of the month after the effects of typhoon Gading was felt. The biggest decrease was noted in Central Mindanao at -8.8 percent while CAR and Metro Manila posted the smallest decline at -0.3 percent.
• Lower prices of chicken and pork in many regions due to ample supply and weak demand pushed down the meat price index in AOMM by -0.1 percent while the index in Metro Manila increased by 0.5 percent causing the national index to post a 0.2 percent growth.
• Prices of sugar, cooking oil, garlic and seasonings increased in September. The miscellaneous foods index increased by 1.1 percent from 2.0 percent. MM index remained at 0.9 percent while the AOMM index slowed down to 1.1 percent from 2.6 percent in August.
• Prices of meals eaten outside increased at a slower rate of 0.3 percent in the Philippines and 0.5 percent in AOMM.
• Higher rentals and prices of construction materials like lumber, plywood and gravel in some provinces caused the H&R index to increase at the national level by 0.3 percent; MM by 0.1 percent; and AOMM by 0.3 percent.
• The national index for clothing increased by 0.6 percent as prices of footwear, ready-made apparel and sewing accessories went up in many regions.
• The FLW index in MM went up by 0.6 percent and 0.1 percent in AOMM resulting in a 0.2 percent increase at the national level. This was brought about by the increases in the prices of firewood, kerosene, charcoal, and higher electricity rates in many provinces together with higher prices of kerosene and higher currency exchange rate (CERA) and purchased power adjustment (PPA) rate for electricity in Metro Manila.
• Services index increased at a slower rate of 0.4 percent from 0.9 percent in the Philippines and 0.1 percent from 2.3 percent in MM while in AOMM the index increased by 0.5 percent from 0.1 percent. This resulted from the increase in the prices of medicines, consultation charges, telephone rates, gasoline, diesel and engine oil.
• The national and AOMM index for miscellaneous items went up by 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent from their corresponding growths of 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent last month. The rate of MM index declined to -0.3 percent from 1.0 percent in the previous month. This resulted from the increases in the prices of laundry soap, cleaning supplies, insecticides, shampoo, bath soap and items for household furnishings.
• By Region, Month-on-Month
• Except for clothing which increased from 0.4 percent in August to 0.6 percent in September all other commodity groups experienced slowdowns. FBT increased by 0.3 percent in September from 0.4 percent in August; H&R, 0.3 percent from 0.7 percent; FLW, 0.2 percent from 0.7 percent; services, 0.4 percent from 0.9 percent; and miscellaneous items, 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent.
• In AOMM, prices increased by 0.4 percent, slower than 0.5 percent posted last month. FBT slowed down to 0.3 percent from 0.5 percent; clothing, 0.5 percent from 0.6 percent; H&R, 0.3 percent from 0.8 percent; FLW, 0.1 percent from 0.4 percent. Services recorded higher month-on-month rates by 0.4 percentage point and miscellaneous items, by 0.3 percentage point. Compared to August, seven regions posted slower rates with the highest rate recorded in Western Mindanao at 1.8 percent while the lowest was in Central Mindanao at -0.6 percent.