MANILA, Philippines — Retail prices of goods in Metro Ma- nila snapped a three-month downtrend as it maintained its pace of growth in December from the previous month, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Data released by the PSA yesterday showed the General Retail Price Index (GRPI) in the National Capital Region (NCR) in December retained its previous month’s growth rate at 2.9 percent.
This ended three consecutive months of slower annual increases in NCR’s GRPI. Compared to the six percent uptick in December 2022, the latest GRPI in NCR rose at a slower pace.
The PSA said four commodity groups retained their previous month’s growth rates in December. These are beverages and tobacco at 4.9 percent; crude materi- als, inedible except fuels at 2.5 percent; manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials at 1.9 percent; and machinery and transport equipment at 1.3 percent.
Those with faster increases are chemi- cals, including animal and vegetable oils and fats at 2.7 percent in December from 2.6 percent in November, and mis- cellaneous manufactured articles at 1.4 percent in December from 1.3 percent the previous month.
Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials posted a slower decline of 1.4 percent in December from the 3.5 percent drop in the previous month.
On the other hand, the heavily weight- ed food index registered a slower increase of 4.4 in December from 4.7 percent in November.
For full-year 2023, the average GRPI growth in NCR was at 4.5 percent, the same growth rate posted in 2022.
Commodity groups with higher av- erage growth rates in 2023 are food; beverages and tobacco; crude materials,inedible except fuels; chemicals includ- ing animal and vegetable oils and fats; machinery and transport equipment; andmiscellaneous manufactured articles.