YEAR-ON-YEAR
Philippines
The year-on-year headline inflation at the national level further accelerated to 4.3 percent in March 2018. In the previous month, inflation was recorded at 3.8 percent and in March 2017, 3.1 percent.
The following commodity groups exhibited higher annual rates during the month:
- Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (5.9%);
- Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (18.6%);
- Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels (2.9%);
- Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House (2.7%);
- Health (2.4%);
- Communication (0.3%); and
- Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (3.0%)
The rest of the commodity groups retained their previous month’s growth with the transport index registering a slower annual rate of 4.6 percent (see Tables 3 and 4).
The annual inflation in the country’s food alone index increased by 5.7 percent in March. It was pegged at 4.8 percent in February and 3.1 percent during the same month a year ago (see Table 7).
Double-digit annual mark-ups were still observed in the indices of corn at 11.4 percent and fish, 12.9 percent. Moreover, faster annual rates were posted in the indices of rice at 3.6 percent; fruits, 7.1 percent; vegetables, 6.0 percent; and food products not elsewhere classified, 3.5 percent. The rest of the food groups moved slower with the index for sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery still registering annual drop at -0.9 percent (see Table 5).
| Year-on-Year Inflation Rates in the Philippines, All Items January 2013 - March 2018 (2012=100) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Year | |||||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Jan | 2.8r | 3.7r | 1.5 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.4 |
| Feb | 2.9 | 3.6 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 3.8r |
| Mar | 2.7r | 3.5r | 1.5 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 4.3 |
| Apr | 2.2r | 3.6r | 1.4 | 0.7 | 3.2 | |
| May | 2.3 | 4.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 2.9 | |
| Jun | 2.5 | 3.8 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 2.5 | |
| Jul | 2.4r | 4.2 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 2.4 | |
| Aug | 1.8 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 2.6r | |
| Sep | 2.3 | 3.9 | -0.4 | 1.7 | 3.0r | |
| Oct | 2.4 | 3.7 | -0.2 | 1.8 | 3.1 | |
| Nov | 2.9 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 3.0 | |
| Dec | 3.8 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 2.9 | |
| Ave | 2.6 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 2.9 | |
r-revised
National Capital Region (NCR)
Similarly, annual inflation in NCR picked up by 5.2 percent in March 2018. In the previous month, inflation settled to 4.7 percent and in March 2017, 3.9 percent. The uptrend was due to higher annual increases recorded in the indices of eight out of the 11 commodity divisions.
Slower annual increments were, however, noted in the indices of clothing and footwear at 2.1 percent and transport, 5.2 percent. Inflation for the education index remained at 1.6 percent (see Tables 3 and 4).
Areas Outside NCR (AONCR)
Following the same trend, inflation in AONCR picked up by 4.1 percent in March. The annual rate in the previous month was posted at 3.6 percent and in March 2017, 2.9 percent. Faster annual add-ons were observed in all the commodity groups with the transport index registering a slower annual growth of 4.4 percent. The recreation and culture index retained its previous month’s rate of 1.5 percent and education index, 1.9 percent (see Tables 3 and 4).
Higher annual gains were seen in all the regions except in Region XI (Davao Region) and Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN). The highest annual inflation of 6.1 percent remained in Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) while the lowest was noted both in Region III (Central Luzon) and Caraga at 2.8 percent (see Table 4).
Notes:
- Changes in the inflation rates in selected months are due to the rounding off algorithm in the computation of the indices which were not applied in the historical data series released on 06 March 2018.
- Price movements of the commodities from the sample municipalities of Lanao del Sur were used to impute the prices for Marawi City for March 2018.
- Accompanying this report are the summary tables showing the inflation rates for the 2006-based CPI series.
- CPIs and inflation rates by province and selected city are also available upon request at Price Statistics Division (Telephone Number: 376-19-59).
(Sgd) LISA GRACE S. BERSALES, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General
