Food, Beverages and Tobacco (FBT) and Non-FBT Items
(NCR and AONCR - January 2009)

1. CPI of Food, Beverages and Tobacco (FBT): National Capital Region (NCR) and Areas Outside the National Capital Region (AONCR)
   

   The seasonally adjusted CPI of FBT in NCR and AONCR respectively went up to 150.0 and 161.1 in January from their corresponding December levels of 147.9 and 160.6.

   Seasonal factors such as the inclement weather conditions and the cold mornings caused difficulty in catching deep sea fish species during the month. This resulted to lower supply of selected fish species in the markets. Moreover, bigger demand for meat and meat products brought about by the celebration of the Chinese New Year and fiestas in selected areas of metropolis also pulled up their prices. All these seasonal factors raised prices of FBT items in NCR. However, these seasonal factors did not push up prices of FBT items in AONCR.

   On a monthly basis, prices of seasonally adjusted CPI of FBT items in NCR and AONCR correspondingly picked up by 1.4 percent and 0.3 percent in January from their respective last month’s rates of zero growth and 0.2 percent.

2. CPI of Non-FBT items: National Capital Region (NCR) and Areas Outside the National Capital Region (AONCR)

The seasonally adjusted CPI of non-FBT items in NCR increased to 158.7 in January from 158.6 in December while that for AONCR went down to 155.4 from 155.9.

A seasonal factor such as the practice of increasing rental rates in the dwelling units at the beginning of the year did not pull up prices of non-FBT items in NCR and AONCR.

Compared with last month, prices of seasonally adjusted CPI for non-FBT items in NCR moved up by 0.1 percent in January from -2.2 percent in December. On the other hand, those in AONCR continued to post a negative growth rate of -0.3 percent from -1.5 percent.

For technical notes and other related information,
please visit:
http://www.census.gov.ph
or contact the Economic Indicators and Indices Division, NSO
at telephone number 716-3935

Page last updated: February 5, 2009