SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines – Prices of gods and services grew faster at 4.8% in 2011 from 3.8% in 2010, largely due to higher cost of food.
In a release of the statistics office on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2011, the annual hike in food prices spiked to 5.7% in 2011 from 4.2% in 2010.
The following items were more expensive in 2011 than in 2010. Below are the comparative rates of increases in the past two years:
| Inflation rate (in percentage, %) | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|
| Food and non-alcoholic beverages | 4.0 | 5.4 |
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 3.0 | 5.3 |
| Clothing and footwear | 2.7 | 3.7 |
| Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels | 5.1 | 5.2 |
| Transport | 3.6 | 6.1 |
| Recreation and culture | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Education | 4.5 | 4.7 |
| Restaurants and miscellaneous goods and services | 2.6 | 2.8 |
The increase in prices of the following items, on the other hand, slowed:
| Inflation rate (in percentage, %) | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 3.8 | 3.2 |
| Communication | -1.1 | -0.2 |
| Furnishing, household equipment, house maintenance | 2.5 | 2.5 |
Holiday season
Food prices in December slowed to 4.2% from 4.8% in November. The increase for Metro Manila was at 2.7%, and outside the capital was at 0.5%.
During the Christmas and New Year season, higher demand for sea foods, meat and selected fish species generally raised the fish index by 0.9%.
The difficulty in catching fish species during the cold weather conditions resulted to its lower supply in the wet markets, thus increasing their prices.
December inflation
Year-on-year headline inflation settled at 4.2% in December, slower than November’s 4.8%.
This was largely due to the reductions in the prices of rice, cooking oil, vegetables in Metro Manila and other regions.
The adjustments in prices of electricity rates contributed to the overall month-on-month decline.
Meanwhile, prices of gasoline and diesel in most of the regions were rolled back during the month, resulting in a 0.2% decrease in the transport index.
Prices of consumer items in Luzon generally moved slower compared to Visayas and Mindanao areas.
In Metro Manila, December inflation slowed to 3% in December from 3.5% in November. The lowest annual inflation at 2.4% was observed in Cagayan Valley while the highest was still in ARMM at 6.9%. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.