Year-on-Year Inflation Rates
Philippines, All Items

Month-on-Month Inflation Rates
Philippines, All Items

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (1994=100)
AUGUST 1998

l By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year

è The rates for food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) slowed down to 9.7 percent from 10.0 percent; clothing, 8.5 percent from 8.7 percent; and fuel, light and water (FLW), 5.8 percent from 6.2 percent. Other groups registered higher inflation rates in August. The rates for housing and repairs (H&R) increased to 12.4 percent from 12.3 percent; services, 14.9 percent from 14.3 percent; and miscellaneous, 9.5 percent from 9.3 percent.

> The inflation rate for food alone was 9.8 percent in August, lower than 10.3 percent recorded in July. Lower rates were noted in the prices of rice, 3.1 percent from 4.7 percent; corn, 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent; fish, 10.8 percent from 11.4 percent; and fruits and vegetables, 21.2 percent from 25.0 percent. However, higher rates were posted in cereal preparations, 13.2 percent from 12.6 percent; dairy products, 14.8 percent from 14.6 percent; eggs, 12.3 percent from 11.3 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 11.2 percent from 9.2 percent while meat retained its previous month's rate of 7.0 percent.

è In Metro Manila (MM), the rates for FLW, services, and miscellaneous were correspondingly higher by 0.5 percentage point, 2.4 percentage points and 0.9 percentage point. On the other hand, the rates for FBT and H&R were lower by 0.1 percentage point; and clothing, by 0.7 percentage point.

> The inflation for food alone in MM slowed down to 8.3 percent from 8.7 percent. Lower rates were posted in the prices of corn, 6.5 percent from 6.6 percent; cereal preparations, 11.0 percent from 11.3 percent; fruits and vegetables, 17.1 percent from 24.1 percent. However, higher rates were recorded in the prices of dairy products, 13.3 percent from 12.5 percent; eggs, 24.7 percent from 22.5 percent; fish, 15.7 percent from 12.4 percent; meat, 6.1 percent from 5.6 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 5.7 percent from 4.7 percent while the price of rice decreased to -1.2 percent from 0.7 percent.

® For areas outside Metro Manila (AOMM), all the commodity groups registered lower inflation rates except for H&R whose inflation rate moved up by 0.4 percentage point. The rates for FBT in August decreased by 0.5 percentage point; clothing and miscellaneous, by 0.1 percentage point; FLW, by 1.0 percentage point; and services, by 0.5 percentage point.

> The inflation rate for food alone slowed down to 10.2 percent from 10.7 percent.

>The inflation rate for rice decelerated to 3.8 percent from 5.4 percent in July. Eleven regions posted lower rates, the biggest decrease was 4.6 percentage points in Southern Mindanao.

>Inflation rates for corn moved down to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent last month; dairy products, 15.4 percent from 15.5 percent; fish, 9.6 percent from 11.2 percent; fruits and vegetables, 22.4 percent from 25.2 percent; and meat, 7.5 percent from 7.7 percent. Higher rates were noted in the prices of cereal preparations, 14.1 percent from 13.1 percent; eggs, 8.6 percent from 8.0 percent; and miscellaneous foods, 13.8 percent from 11.3 percent.

l By Region, Year-on-Year

® The inflation rate for Metro Manila went up to 10.7 percent in August from 10.4 percent in July.

® AOMM registered a rate of 10.4 percent, lower than the 10.8 percent posted last month. The biggest decline was noted in Southern Mindanao at 2.1 percentage points followed by Central Mindanao at 1.8 percentage points. Bicol recorded the lowest rate at 8.5 percent while Southern Tagalog posted the highest inflation rate at 12.1 percent.

l By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month

è Month-on-month inflation rates for the following groups were higher in August: FBT, 0.4 percent from -0.1 percent; FLW, 0.7 percent from 0.5 percent; services, 0.9 percent from 0.5 percent; and miscellaneous, 0.4 percent from 0.3 percent. On the other hand, inflation rates slowed down in clothing, 0.4 percent from 0.5 percent; and H&R, 0.7 percent from 0.9 percent.

• The price of rice went up to 0.5 percent in August from 0.4 percent in July. Month-on-month rates increased in nine regions. The highest rate was observed in Western Mindanao at 4.9 percent while Ilocos registered the lowest rate at -1.2 percent. In MM, however, the price of rice went down to -0.5 percent from 0.3 percent.
• Corn prices in the Philippines and AOMM increased to 1.2 percent in August from 0.1 percent last month while that in MM went up to -0.2 percent from -0.9 percent.
• Prices of cereal preparations in MM also posted an increment of 0.3 percent from 0.0 percent as prices of flour, bread, biscuits and noodles continued to rise. In AOMM, the rate remained at its previous month's level.
• The dairy products index was still on the uptrend but at a slower rate as the national and AOMM indices posted growths of 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, since milk, ice cream, cheese and butter were priced higher this month in most of the regions. In Metro Manila, prices of dairy products remained at their previous month's level.
• The index for eggs in Metro Manila and AOMM also increased but at a slower rate of 2.5 percent and 1.3 percent from their corresponding rates of 7.2 percent and 1.8 percent last month.
• Prices of fish in Metro Manila went up by 1.4 percent while in AOMM the index went down by 0.4 percent resulting to a zero growth in the national index for fish.
• The fruits and vegetables index in MM and ten other regions declined resulting to a 2.9 percent drop in the national index. The biggest decrement was noted in Southern Mindanao at -9.7 percent while CARAGA posted the lowest decline at -0.2 percent.
• Lower prices of beef and pork pushed down the meat index by 0.5 percent in MM while the index in AOMM retained its previous month's level causing the national index to post a -0.2 percent growth.
• Prices of sugar, cooking oil, coffee, sauces and spices continued to increase in August. The miscellaneous foods index thus registered an increment of 0.9 percent in MM and 2.6 percent in AOMM, higher than their corresponding rates of 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent posted in July.
• Prices of meals eaten outside increased at higher rates of 0.5 percent in the Philippines and 0.8 percent in AOMM.

® Higher wages and rentals in some provinces caused the H&R index to increase in the national level to 0.7 percent; MM, 0.5 percent; and AOMM, 0.8 percent.

® The national and AOMM index for clothing increased by 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, as prices of footwear, ready-made apparel and sewing accessories continued to increase in many regions along with higher sewing charges. In Metro Manila, however, these items were priced lower this month resulting to a 0.3 percent decrease in the clothing index.

® The FLW index in MM went up by 1.3 percent and 0.4 percent in AOMM resulting to a 0.7 percent increase in the national level. This was brought about by the increases in the prices of firewood, kerosene, charcoal, candles and higher electricity rates in many regions together with higher currency exchange rate (CERA) and purchased power adjustment rate (PPA) for electricity in Metro Manila.

® Services index increased at higher rates of 0.9 percent from 0.5 percent in the Philippines and 2.3 percent from 0.1 percent in MM while in AOMM the index increased at a slower rate of 0.1 percent from 0.7 percent. This resulted from the increase in the prices of school supplies, medicines, other medical and health goods, and gasoline as well as higher medical charges and wages of household help.

® The national and MM index for miscellaneous items went up by 0.4 percent and 1.0 percent from their corresponding growths of 0.3 percent and -0.1 percent last month. The rate of the AOMM index remained at its previous month's level of 0.3 percent. This resulted from the increases in the prices of refrigerators, kitchen utensils, fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, soap/detergent, toilet articles and watches.

l By Region, Month-on-Month

® Prices in Metro Manila increased by 0.4 percent in August, up from -0.5 percent last month. Increments were noted in the prices of FLW, 0.3 percentage point; services, 2.2 percentage points; and miscellaneous items, 1.1 percentage points. A lower rate was registered in H&R, 0.1 percentage point. However, negative inflation rates were recorded in FBT, -0.4 percent and clothing, -0.3 percent.

® In AOMM, prices increased by 0.5 percent, slower than the 0.6 percent posted last month. H&R and services recorded lower month-on-month rates by 0.2 percentage point and 0.6 percentage point, respectively. FBT and miscellaneous items retained their previous month's rates while those of clothing and FLW were 0.2 percentage point higher than last month. Compared to July, eight regions posted slower rates with the highest rate recorded in CAR at 2.2 percent while the lowest was in Southern Mindanao at -0.5 percent.

Source: National Statistics Office
Manila, Philippines