The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released data which reported that February inflation rate slowed down to 2.6% from January’s 2.9%.

The inflation rate in February 2019 was recorded at 3.8 percent.

The Philippines braces the price hike that caused by the Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) that affects the manufacturing sector of China.

“The downtrend in the inflation was mainly brought about by the slower annual increase in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index at 2.1 percent during the month,” PSA reported.

Moreover, indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco declined to 18.2% for February.

The index of furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house rose up to 3.5 percent. Food index remained at 2.1 percent in February.

Respectively, higher rates was observed in the following food groups:

Other cereals, flour, cereal preparation, bread, pasta and other bakery products, 2.7 percent;

Milk, cheese, and eggs, 3.4 percent;

Oils and fats, 1.0 percent; and

Fruits, 8.5 percent.

“The continuous decrease in the price of rice is a great relief for Filipinos, with its inflation rate of negative 6.26 percent, and a negative 0.60 percentage points contribution since the Rice Tariffication Law was signed in March 2019,” Department of Finance (DOF) stated. as mentioned in the report of Philippine Inquirer.

DOF continued to emphasized that the effect of rice tariffication slowed down the prices of rice.

“Annual increments slowed down in the indices of meat at 2.9 percent; fish, 8.6 percent; vegetables, 7.8 percent; and food products, not elsewhere classified, 6.5 percent. The rest of the food groups recorded negative annual rates during the month,” PSA mentioned.

The February inflation rate of the National Capital Region (NCR) eased to 2.0% from 2.7% in January.

Among the regions, Bicol region obtained the highest inflation rate at 3.6% while Eastern Visayas has the lowest inflation rate at 1.9%.



Reference: Summary Inflation Report Consumer Price Index (2012=100): February 2020