Food, non-alcoholic drinks drag Guimaras’ low-income household inflation to 2.8%

Slower price increases in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages slowed down inflation (all items) for the bottom 30% income households (HHs) in Guimaras to 2.8% in July 2023, down from 4.5% a month ago, based on the latest price statistics released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“The 3.4% inflation of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages largely contributed to the slower July inflation for the bottom 30% income Households by 67.5%, followed by Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco with 12.0% inflation and chipping in 14.8% to total inflation trend, and by the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels with 3.8% inflation contributing 14.4%,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

Losare added that slower inflation in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages was mainly due to the price deceleration of the food groups, specifically Rice with 3.2% inflation; Milk, other dairy products, and eggs with 10.2% inflation; and Sugar, confectionery, and desserts with 25.9.

Other commodities with significant contribution to the food inflation in July 2023 were Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses, at 8.1 inflation (15.4% share); and Flour, Bread and Other Bakery Products, Pasta Products, and Other Cereals, with 6.2 (12.2% share to the food inflation trend).

“The food inflation for low-income households in July moved slower to 3.4 percent from 6.7 percent a month ago, and a decrement of 7.0 percentage points from food inflation in July 2022 with 10.4 percent, while the price change for Non-Alcoholic Beverages slowed to 3.5% from 3.6%, a month ago,” Losare said.

Aside from the top 3 commodities with the high contribution (shown in Table 1), the Restaurants and Accommodation Services, with 11.14 percent inflation, also contributed 12.9 percent to the overall inflation of the bottom 30% income HHs in July 2023.

Other non-food commodities which contributed less than 2.0 percent were: Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance; Recreation, Sport and Culture; Clothing And Footwear; Information and Communication.

“Health with –0.9 percent inflation and Transport with –15.2 percent inflation showed a lowest contribution of –0.5 and –25.0 percent, respectively, except for Education and Financial Services with zero percent contribution,” Losare said.

Inflation Rate is the rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) derive by computing the indices of goods and services relative to the same period in the previous year or month.

“The CPI of 124.2 indicates that a low-income Guimarasnon household needs 1,242 pesos in July 2023 to purchase a basket of goods and services worth 1,000 pesos in 2018,” Losare clarified.

Losare also highlighted that based on the relative poverty concept, households whose per capita income falls below the bottom 30 percent of the cumulative per capita distribution belong to the low-income group.

“The inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent income households, who are the most vulnerable to economic and social difficulties, was computed to monitor their welfare,” she added.