Guimaras’ 8 percent inflation in January 2023 highest in 5 years

The 8 percent inflation rate of Guimaras was the highest in five years since 2019, based on the generated data of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Retail Price Survey (RPS) of Commodities conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Slow-moving prices in food and non-alcoholic beverages brought down the Guimaras’ inflation to 8 percent in January 2023, from 8.1 percent in December 2022, the figure was higher than the 5.8 percent inflation in January 2022.

 

“The Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages are among the heavily-weighted commodity items that slowed to 9.0 percent from 11.6 percent in December 2022 and 9.4 percent in January 2022,” said Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare.

Losare explained that the 17.4 percent price drop in Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and 1.6 percent price cuts in rice pulled Food and Non-alcoholic beverages to 9 percent.

“Other heavily-weighted non-food items that shared in the downtrend inflation were the -1.2 percent in Health and 2.0 percent in Clothing and Footwear,” Losare added.

The -1.2 percent decrease in Health was due to the slower annual price change of Vitamins and Minerals (-2.4%); and Pharmaceutical Preparations used to treat illnesses and diseases (-3.4%).

Likewise, the 2.0 percent price fall in Clothing and Footwear was due to the decreased price change in Footwear for men, including sports footwear (-5.2%); and Garments for men or boys (4.0%).

Recreation, Sports, and Culture also slowed to 16.6 percent in January 2023 from 20.2 percent in December 2022, but faster than the 9.3 percent in January 2023. The same inflation trend was noted in Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, with an 8.2 percent cutback in January 2023 from 8.5 percent in December, yet higher when compared to the 3.7 percent in January 2022.

Losare further highlighted that five commodity items showed faster inflation in January 2023 than the previous month’s rate.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels inched up to 6.7 percent from 4.0 percent; Furnishings, Household Equipment, and Routine Household Maintenance climbed to 7.0 percent from 5.5 percent; Transport soared to 6.9 percent from 1.6 percent; Restaurant and Accommodation Services swelled to 16.7 percent from 11.5 percent; and Personal Care and Miscellaneous Good and Services increased to 9.0 percent from 8.5 percent,” Losare said.

Nevertheless, three commodities maintained their previous month’s inflation rates: Information and Communication (0.6%), Education Services (-0.3%), and Financial Services (0.0%).

The 8.0 inflation rate for all items in January 2023 was the highest in five years since its rebasing in 2018. (See table 2).

Losare also stated that the inflation rate in January 2023 implied that the average price level of consumer goods and services slightly decreased to 8.0 percent from 8.1 percent in December 2022.

“A CPI of 125.2 means that an average Guimarasnon household needs 25.2 pesos more in January 2023 to buy a basket of goods worth 100 pesos in 2018. The CPI is used to compute the inflation rate for a given period,” Losare said.

Meanwhile, Losare cited that the average Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in January 2023 is at 0.80, which is lower when compared to the previous year’s 0.86, illustrating that the purchasing power of the peso depreciated, thereby interpreting that the one peso in 2018, is now valued at 0.80 centavos.

“The PPP for January was lower against the 0.81 in December 2022,” Losare said.