NCR retail price growth hits 10-year low

RETAIL PRICE growth for general goods in the National Capital Region (NCR) slowed in 2025 to the weakest reading in 10 years, according to preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA said growth in the general retail price index (GRPI) in Metro Manila slowed to 1.1%, from 1.8% a year earlier.

The 2025 reading was the weakest since the 0.6% posted in 2015.

“The primary contributor to the downtrend in the annual average growth rate of the GRPI was the slower annual average increase recorded in the index for food at 1.4% in 2025 from 2.4% in the previous year,” the PSA said in its report.

The food sub-index accounted for more than a third of the GWPI.

Other commodity groups that posted weaker year-on-year growth were beverages and tobacco (3% from 3.5%); chemicals, including animals and vegetable oils and fats (2.1% from 2.4%); manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials (1.1% from 1.3%); machinery and transport equipment (0.4% from 0.5%); miscellaneous manufactured articles (0.8% from 1.4%).

Meanwhile, retail price growth for mineral fuels, lubricants, and related materials came in at -1.0%, reversing a 0.4% rise last year.

GRPI growth in Metro Manila rose 1.5% year on year in December, against November’s 1.4%.

The December reading was the strongest in 17 months, or since the 1.9% posted in July 2024. — Pierce Oel A. Montalvo