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Philippines: Wholesale price growth accelerates to 7%
COSTLIER food items led to wholesale prices growing at a faster pace in January, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.
The general wholesale price index (GWPI) expanded by 7.0 percent, up from 6.7 percent in December. It was also significantly higher than the 4.6 percent recorded a year earlier.
“The increase in the GWPI in January 2023 was primarily brought about by the higher annual uptick in the heavily weighted food index at 14.2 percent from 11.7 percent in December 2022,” the PSA said in a statement.
“In addition, [the] annual increment was higher in the index of beverages and tobacco at 6.3 percent (from 5.2 percent).”
Slower growth, meanwhile, was noted for mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (14.2 percent from 22.2 percent); chemicals including animal, and vegetable oils and fats (0.1 percent from 2.2 percent); manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials (3.9 percent from 4.3 percent); machinery and transport equipment (1.1 percent from 1.3 percent); and miscellaneous manufactured articles (3.4 percent from 3.7 percent).
“The annual change in the index of crude materials, inedible except fuels dropped further to -27.2 percent in January 2023 from -17.7 percent in the previous month,” the PSA added.
The GWPI growth rate for Luzon, meanwhile, also rose to 7.2 percent from 6.9 percent in December. It was also above the January 2022’s 4.7 percent.
Food was again said to be behind the rise, with its index up 14.9 percent from the previous month’s record 12.3 percent. Additionally, a larger yearly rise of 6.1 percent was seen in the index of beverages and tobacco products from 4.6 percent in December.
In the Visayas, GWPI growth eased to 4.9 percent in January 2023 from 5.6 percent in December. It was higher than the 3.2 percent seen in January 2022.
The decline was principally driven by slower yearly growth in the food index, which at 7.7 percent in January was lower than the previous month’s 9.1 percent.
As for Mindanao, growth in GWPI picked up to 5.5 percent from 4.5 percent and was likewise higher than the 4.2 recorded a year earlier.
This was driven by the food index, which saw growth accelerate to 10.3 percent from 6.3 percent.
Source: https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/03/16/business/top-business/wholesale-price-growth-accelerates-to-7/1882952