Special Release: CALABARZON's Inflation Weakens at 2.6 percent in February 2020 | Philippine Statistics Authority CALABARZON

Release-Date

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Reference-Number

2020-0400-SR03

SPECIAL RELEASE CALABARZON’s Inflation weakens at 2.6 percent in February 2020 Figure 1. Inflation Rate on All Items in CALABARZON (2012=100) Inflation in the region for February 2020 was measured at 2.6 percent, lower by 0.9 percent index point than the recorded inflation of the previous month. In the same manner, this is 1.2 percent index points lower than the recorded inflation rate in the same month of 2019 at 3.8 percent. In contrast, this month’s inflation is 1.6 percent index points higher than the lowest inflation posted in September 2019 at 1.0 percent. Table 1. Year-on-Year Inflation Rate by Province, All Items (2012=100) Area Feb 2020 Jan 2020 Feb 2019 CALABARZON 2.6 3.5 3.8 Batangas 3.3 3.5 4.7 Cavite 3.7 4.7 3.8 Laguna 1.1 2.5 3.3 Quezon 2.4 3.0 2.6 Rizal 2.6 3.6 4.4 The reduction in inflation rate of the region during the month can be traced from the recorded inflation rate of all the five provinces that exhibited deceleration compared with the record in January 2020. The province of Laguna which recorded the lowest inflation across provinces in the region, experienced a slow down by 1.4 percent index points. Similarly, inflation rate in the provinces of Cavite and Rizal slid down by both 1.0 percent index point, while in Quezon and Batangas, inflation rates are lower by 0.6 and 0.2 percent index point, respectively. Compared with the recorded inflation in February 2019, all the provinces recorded deceleration. The province of Laguna exhibited the highest deceleration of 2.2 percent index points. Table 2. Year-on-Year Inflation Rates in CALABARZON, All Items, January 2015 to February 2020 (2012=100) Month Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 January 1.2 0.6 2.2 2.9 4.3 3.5 February 1.2 -0.1 3.2 3.5 3.8 2.6 March 1.2 0.0 3.7 3.6 3.3 April 0.8 0.0 3.6 3.9 3.1 May 0.6 0.2 3.5 4.0 3.2 June 0.2 1.0 2.4 4.7 2.5 July -0.3 1.2 2.2 5.9 2.2 August -0.5 1.1 2.5 6.1 1.7 September -0.9 1.6 3.1 6.2 1.0 October -0.8 1.7 3.2 6.1 1.4 November -0.2 1.9 3.0 5.8 1.4 December 0.5 1.8 2.9 4.8 3.1 Average 0.2 0.9 2.9 4.8 2.6 The year-on-year inflation rates revealed that the highest annual average was registered in 2018 at 4.8 percent while the lowest average rate was registered at 0.2 percent in 2015. February inflation rates were of record high in 2019 at 3.8 percent and went down in 2020 but still way above the record in 2015 and 2016. Across all years and on a monthly basis, inflation in September 2018 at 6.2 marked the highest inflation so far since the rebasing of the consumer price index to base year 2012. More so, during the year 2018, the 2nd semester had the higher monthly inflation rates. On the other hand, a five-month deflation was recorded in 2015 from July to November with inflation in the remaining seven-month period limited only to less than 2 percent. This scenario equated only to 0.2 percent annual inflation, the lowest so far during the past five years. Figure 2. Inflation Rate in CALABARZON, by commodity group: January to February 2020 (2012=100) Relative to their inflation in January 2020, seven commodity groups in the region exhibited lower inflation rates in February 2020, three commodity groups (Education, Communication, recreation and culture) sustained its inflation rate, and only Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services commodity group registered a higher inflation rate. The downtrend in the inflation in February 2020 was mainly brought about by the slower annual increase in the heavily-weighted Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages index at 3.01 percent; Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco at 17.71 percent; Clothing and Footwear at 4.00 percent; Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels at 0.56 percent; Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance at 3.20 percent; and Health at 2.84 percent. Transport commodity group registered a deflation of 0.58 percent in February 2020 from its inflation of 1.65 percent in January 2020. This is due to the decrease of price index of Operation of Personal Transport Equipment from 94.7 price index to 90.6 price index. On the other hand, Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services commodity group grew faster by 0.16 percentage points pushing its inflation rate to 2.89 percent during the month in review. Meanwhile, Communication, Education, and Recreation and Culture commodity groups retained their previous month’s inflation rates at 0.50 percent, 3.57 percent, and 1.71 percent, respectively. . Table 4. Monthly Consumer Price Index for All Income Households in the Philippines, by Commodity Group, Area/Region: January and February 2019-2020 (2012=100) A R E A / R E G I O N All Items FEBRUARY JANUARY 2020 2019 2020 2019 Philippines 122.4 119.3 122.6 119.1 NCR- National Capital Region 119.5 117.2 119.9 116.8 Areas Outside NCR 123.3 119.9 123.4 119.8 Regions: CAR - Cordillera Administrative Region 120.6 117.2 120.5 117.2 I - Ilocos Region 121.5 118.3 121.2 118.1 II - Cagayan Valley 123.4 120.2 123.6 121.2 III - Central Luzon 121.5 117.7 121.7 117.6 IV-A - CALABARZON 120.5 117.4 120.9 116.8 MIMAROPA Region 125.3 121.4 125.2 121.3 V - Bicol Region 124.9 120.6 125.0 120.3 VI - Western Visayas 124.5 120.5 124.4 120.5 VII - Central Visayas 125.9 122.8 126.1 122.9 VIII - Eastern Visayas 127.1 124.7 127.2 124.7 IX - Zamboanga Peninsula 127.7 124.0 128.4 124.1 X - Northern Mindanao 126.9 124.1 126.6 124.0 XI - Davao Region 123.3 120.4 123.1 120.5 XII - SOCCSKSARGEN 126.5 123.0 126.3 123.5 XIII - Caraga 122.2 119.1 122.1 119.0 BARMM - Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao 128.5 125.8 128.5 127.2 Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an indicator of change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year. It measures how much on the average, prices of goods and services have increased or decreased from a particular reference period. CPI for All Items in the region for February 2020 was recorded at 120.5, a 2.6 percent increase over the record set in the same month a year ago at 117.4. On the contrary, CPI for All Items in the region during this month is 0.33 percent lower than the figure recorded in January 2020 at 120.9 or an equivalent decrease of 0.4 price index. For areas outside NCR, price index for all items in CALABARZON for February 2020 at 120.5 was the lowest quoted CPI in the Philippines. BARMM remains to have the highest price index at 128.5 during the reported month, higher by 6.1 index points with the national average of 122.4 price index for all items. Compared with February 2019 record, the region’s CPI for all items during the month rose by 3.1 index points, the same movement and increment with that of the national average. Eight regions reported an increase in the CPI compared to the previous month’s record, Ilocos Region and Northern Mindanao with the highest reported increment of both 0.3 index points. Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao sustained its CPI with 128.5 index points from January 2020. Figure 2. Purchasing Power of Peso, All Items, by Province in CALABARZON: January to February 2020 (2012=100) Purchasing Power of Peso (PPP) shows how much the peso in the base period is worth in another period. It gives an indication of the real value of the peso in a given period relative to the peso value in the base period. Purchasing Power of Peso is inversely related to inflation rate. Thus, as inflation rate increases, PPP declines. In February 2020, the PPP in the region was at its third-month constant state at P0.83. This means that the value of P1.00 in 2012 is only worth P0.83 in February this year. During the month, all provinces in the region had sustained their PPP from the previous month except Laguna and Quezon with P0.88 and P0.81, respectively. The PPP in Laguna remains the strongest across provinces, followed by Rizal Province at P0.83 and Batangas, Cavite and Quezon at P0.81. (SGD) CHARITO C. ARMONIA Regional Director BFP/LOM/JAS

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