Month-on-Month Growth Rates

At the country level, the month-on-month growth of the seasonally adjusted CPI for all items decelerated to 0.1 percent in January 2017 from 0.4 percent in December 2016; non-food, 0.2 percent from 0.4 percent; and health and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 0.1 percent from 0.2 percent. Movements in the indices of clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; recreation and culture; and education remained at 0.2 percent and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, 0.1 percent.

Seasonal factor like the practice of implementing business changes at the beginning of the year pushed up the indices for all items and health. This seasonal factor, however, pushed down the indices of the following commodity groups:

• Non-food
• Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels
• Recreation and Culture
• Education
• Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services

Meanwhile, the indices of clothing and footwear and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house were not affected by this seasonal factor during the month.

In NCR, the seasonally adjusted CPI for all items likewise moved up at a slower pace of 0.1 percent in January 2017 from 0.5 percent in December 2016; food and non-alcoholic beverages and education, 0.3 percent from their corresponding previous month’s rates of 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent; and health and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 0.1 percent from 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. Moreover, decreases were noted in the indices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels both at -0.2 percent from their previous month’s rates of 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. On the other hand, the index of recreation and culture picked up by 0.5 percent from 0.2 percent while the index of clothing and footwear remained at 0.3 percent. The indices of non-food and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house both posted zero growth.

Relative to the expected trend, the seasonal factor like the practice of implementing business changes during the first month of the year raised the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages and health. On the contrary, this seasonal factor pushed down the indices of the following commodity groups:

• Non-food
• Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels
• Recreation and Culture
• Education
• Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services

In addition, the indices for all items; alcoholic beverages and tobacco; clothing and footwear; and furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house were not affected by this seasonal factor.

The increment in the seasonally adjusted CPI for all items in AONCR slowed down to 0.1 percent in January 2017 from 0.3 percent in the previous month; non-food, 0.2 percent from 0.4 percent; and clothing and footwear; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; and health, 0.1 percent from 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, a higher growth of 0.4 percent was observed in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index from 0.2 percent while the indices of education and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services retained their previous month’s rates of 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

The indices for all items and transport were pushed up by the seasonal factor such as the practice of implementing business changes at the start of the year. However, this seasonal factor pushed down the indices of the following commodity groups:

• Non-food
• Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels
• Education
• Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services

Generally, this seasonal factor did not affect the indices of clothing and footwear; furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house; and health.