The growth of the general wholesale price in the Philippines decelerated in October compared to the previous month, according to the latest General Wholesale Price Index (GWPI) data from the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The NSO said that the annual rate the GWPI at the national level went down to 1.2 percent in October from 2.2 percent in September.

“It resulted from a drop in the crude materials, inedible except fuels index at -16.7 percent in October from -14.7 percent in September,” the agency noted.

It also showed that a slower annual growth was posted in the heavily weighted food index at 0.9 percent from 4.1 percent.

However, the NSO stated that the annual rate registered in the indices of manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials, which went up to 2.2 percent from 2.1 percent, and miscellaneous manufactured articles with 1.7 percent from 1.6 percent, while the other commodity groups retained their last month’s rates.

Meanwhile, the annual gain of the GWPI in Luzon eased to 1.4 percent in October from 2.5 percent in September. The NSO attributed it to a decline of 19.7 percent in the index of crude materials, inedible except fuels from -17.5 percent.

A slower annual rate was also observed in the food index at 1.5 percent from 5 percent. The annual growths for the rest of the commodity groups either went up or remained at their respective last month’s rates.

Also, the movement of the GWPI in Visayas recorded an improvement of 1.1 percent in October from 1.4 percent in September.

Thus, the annual adjustment in the manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials index was still negative at -0.2 percent from -0.4 percent. Slowdowns were also noted in the indices of food at 0.9 percent from 1.5 percent; crude materials, inedible except fuels, 5.4 percent from 8.2 percent; and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent.

The NSO added that similar movement was also seen in the GWPI in Mindanao as its annual uptick slid to 0.2 percent in October from 1.3 percent in September.

The heavily weighted food index went down by 3.1 percent from -0.3 percent. A slowdown was also noticed in the annual hike of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials index at 1.1 percent from 1.2 percent; and machinery and transport equipment index, 0.4 percent from 0.5 percent.