The Philippines inflation rate in January increases up to 2.9%, the highest inflation since June 2019 with 2.7 percent rate, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
The following commodity groups acquire high inflation rate in January:
- Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 19.2 percent
- Clothing and footwear, 2.7 percent
- Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 2.5 percent
- Transport, 3.0 percent
- Recreation and culture, 1.5 percent; and
- Education, 4.7 percent
“The heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index, which registered an annual increment of 2.2 percent, primarily contributed to the uptrend of inflation in January 2020,” report from the PSA mentioned.
Moreover, fish (8.8 percent) and vegetables (8.3 percent) have registered higher increment in January 2020.
The food groups amounted the following rates:
- Meat, 3.4 percent
- Fruit, 7.7
- Other food products 6.8 percent
- Oils and fats, 0.7 percent
- Rice 6.5 percent
- Corn 1.5 percent
- jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, 2.2 percent
Respectively, the restaurants miscellaneous goods and services index have low annual increase of 2.6 percent.
“The annual growth rate of food index at the national level, likewise, increased further by 2.1 percent during the month,” report added.
Further, National Capital Region’s inflation rate in January 2020 declined to 2.7 percent. The inflation of the region last year reached 4.6 percent.
“Except in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), whose inflation remained at 2.8 percent, all the regions in areas outside NCR posted higher annual mark-ups in January 2020,” PSA mentioned.
The highest inflation was still observed in Region V (Bicol Region) at 3.9 percent, while the lowest remained in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) at 1.0 percent,” PSA added.
Reference: Summary Inflation Report Consumer Price Index (2012=100): January 2020
