Year-on-Year Inflation Rates, Philippines, All Items

Month-on Month Inflation Rates, Philippines, All Items

l By Commodity Group, Year-on-Year

• Most of the commodity groups registered slower inflation rates except for that of fuel, light and water (FLW) and clothing. The rates for food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) slowed to 10.0 percent in July from 10.1 percent in June; miscellaneous items, to 9.3 percent from 9.4 percent; housing and repairs (HR), to 12.3 percent from 12.5 percent; and services, to 14.3 percent from 14.5 percent. Prices of clothing moved at the June rate of 8.7 percent while those for FLW increased to 6.2 percent from 5.5 percent.

• The inflation rate for food alone was 10.3 percent again in July. Year-on-year rates for eggs went up to 11.3 percent from 8.3 percent; corn, 6.2 percent from 5.0 percent; fruits and vegetables, 25.0 percent from 23.9 percent; dairy products, 14.6 percent from 14.2 percent; rice, 4.7 percent from 4.5 percent; and meals eaten outside, 6.2 percent from 6.0 percent. However, slower rates were seen in the prices of meat, 7.0 percent from 8.8 percent, and fish, 11.4 percent from 12.2 percent. The inflation rates for cereal preparations (12.6 percent) and miscellaneous foods (9.2 percent) were the same as those for June.
•  
• In Metro Manila (MM), slowdowns were observed in FBT from 10.1 percent in June to 8.6 percent in July; HR from 10.2 percent to 9.8 percent; services from 16.0 percent to 15.8 percent; and miscellaneous items, from 12.3 percent to 12.2 percent. Inflation in FLW increased from 7.3 percent in June to 8.9 percent in July and clothing, from 12.3 percent to 13 percent.
• The inflation for food alone in MM slowed to 8.7 percent from 10.3 percent in June. Slower rates were recorded in the prices of fruits and vegetables, 24.1 percent from 30.0 percent; meat, 5.6 percent from 9.9 percent; fish, 12.4 percent from 14.5 percent; corn, 6.6 percent from 8.6 percent; rice, 0.7 percent from 1.7 percent; and cereal preparations, 11.0 percent from 11.3 percent.
  • However, higher rates were posted in the prices of eggs, 22.5 percent from 14.6 percent; miscellaneous foods, 4.7 percent from 4.4 percent; and dairy products, 12.5 percent from 12.4 percent.
• For areas outside Metro Manila (AOMM), the rates for FBT and FLW in June increased by 0.4 percentage point and miscellaneous items, 0.1 percentage point. H&R and clothing inflation decreased by 0.1 percentage point while the 13.7 percent inflation rate for services remained as that for June.
• The inflation rate for food alone rose to 10.7 percent in July from 10.3 percent in June.
  • The inflation rate for fruits and vegetables moved up to 25.2 percent from 21.9 percent in June; eggs, to 8.0 percent from 6.4 percent; corn, to 6.2 percent from 4.9 percent; dairy products, to 15.5 percent from 14.8 percent; rice, to 5.4 percent from 5.0 percent; meals eaten outside, to 9.4 percent from 9.1 percent; and cereal preparations, to 13.2 percent from 13.1 percent. There were rate slowdowns in meat to 7.7 percent from 8.3 percent; fish, to 11.2 percent from 11.6 percent; and miscellaneous foods, to 11.3 percent from 11.4 percent.

l By Region, Year-on-Year

• The inflation rate for Metro Manila decelerated to 10.4 percent in July from 11.1 percent in June.
• AOMM inflation increased to 10.8 percent from 10.5 percent in June. The biggest increment was noted in Eastern Visayas at 0.9 percentage point followed by Northern and Western Mindanao at 0.7 percentage point. Northern Mindanao posted the highest inflation rate at 12.4 percent while the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) recorded the lowest rate at 7.4 percent.

l By Commodity Group, Month-on-Month

• Slower month-on-month inflation rates were registered in most commodity groups except that of HR which moved sidewise at 0.9 percent and FLW which increased to 0.5 percent from 0.3 percent. Services decelerated to 0.5 percent in July from 3.2 percent in June; FBT, zero growth from 1.9 percent; clothing, 0.5 percent from 0.9 percent; and miscellaneous items, 0.3 percent from 0.8 percent.

•  
  • The price of rice decelerated to 0.4 percent in July from 2.2 percent in June. All regions except Eastern Visayas (-4.7%) and Southern Mindanao (-0.1%) posted positive month-on-month rates ranging from 0.1 percent (Western Mindanao) to 2.6 percent (Bicol). In MM, the price of rice increased to 0.3 percent from a decline of �0.5 percent in June.
•  
•  
  • Corn prices slowed down to 0.1 percent in July from 0.6 percent in June as the AOMM index for corn decelerated to 0.1 percent from 0.6 percent while the MM index posted a decline of �0.9 percent from an increase of 1.6 percent in June.
•  
•  
  • Cereal preparations slowed down to 0.3 percent in July from 0.4 percent a month earlier at the national level even as prices of flour, bread and noodles increased. The index for MM declined by �0.2 percent from an increase of 0.6 percent in June while the AOMM index increased to 0.5 percent from 0.2 percent.
•  
• The dairy products index decelerated to 0.2 percent from 0.8 percent a month earlier. The AOMM index slowed down to 0.4 percent from 0.8 percent even with prices of milk, ice cream, cheese and butter increasing in most of the regions. In MM, the price decreased by �0.1 percent from an increase of 0.6 percent in June.

•  
  • In AOMM, prices of eggs rose by 1.8 percent in July from 0.6 percent in June. The prices in MM decelerated to 7.2 percent from 10 percent. Prices of eggs in the Philippines increased to 3.1 percent from 2.8 percent in June.

•  
  • Fish prices moved down by �0.8 percent in July from an increase of 0.7 percent in June. These declined by �3.2 percent from �1.1 percent in MM and by �0.1 percent from 1.1 percent in AOMM.

•  
  • The fruits and vegetables index moved down to zero growth in July from 6.1 percent in June. It declined by �6.6 percent from an increase of 6.1 percent in MM and decelerated to 2.3 percent from 5.9 percent.

•  
  • Lower prices of chicken and pork pushed the meat index down by �1.7 percent in July from an increase of 1.7 percent in June. This was due to declines in MM prices of �4.4 percent from 0.3 percent and in AOMM of �0.3 percent from 2.4 percent.

•  
  • The miscellaneous foods index slowed down to 0.6 percent from 1.3 percent even as prices of sugar, cooking oil and sauces went up.

•  
  • Meals eaten outside slowed down to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent in the Philippines and to 0.5 percent from 0.8 percent in AOMM. MM prices were stable.
•  
• Services decelerated to 0.1 percent in July from 2.7 percent in June in MM and 0.7 percent from 3.6 percent in AOMM resulting in a slowdown to 0.5 percent from 3.2 percent increase in the national level. However there were increases in the prices of medicines, school supplies, cassette tapes and gasoline.
• Higher prices of some construction materials and higher rentals in some provinces caused the H&R national index to increase in the national level to 0.9 percent in July.
• Prices of miscellaneous items slowed down to 0.3 percent from 0.8 percent in June even with increases in the prices of bath soap, detergent powder, face powder, shampoo, toothbrush, kitchen utensils, blankets and curtain materials.
• The clothing index posted a 0.5 percent increase in the Philippines, 0.4 percent in AOMM and 0.7 percent in MM as prices of footwear, ready-made apparel and textile continued to increase along with higher sewing charges.
• The FLW index increased to 0.5 percent from 0.3 percent. This was brought about by increases in the prices of firewood, kerosene, charcoal 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.

l By Region, Month-on-Month

• Prices in MM moved down by �0.5 percent from an increase of 1.0 percent in June. Slower rates were recorded in FBT, -1.7 percent from 1.0 percent; services, 0.1 percent from 2.7 percent; miscellaneous items, -0.1 percent from 1.6 percent; and clothing, 0.7 percent from 1.4 percent. On the other hand, HR moved up to 0.6 percent from 0.1 percent and FLW, to 1.0 percent from 0.4 percent.
• In AOMM, prices slowed down to 0.7 percent from 1.9 percent in June. All commodity groups registered slower rates, i.e. services, 2.9 percentage points; FBT, 1.5 percentage points; HR, 0.6 percentage point; clothing, 0.4 percentage point; and FLW and miscellaneous items, 0.1 percentage point.
• All regions posted slower month-on-month rates with the highest rate recorded in Bicol at 1.1 percent and the lowest in Southern Mindanao at 0.1 percent.