Guimaras’ August inflation rate eases to 2.3 percent

GUIMARAS’ annual inflation rate eased at 2.3 percent in August 2019 from last year’s 7.2 percent due to the slower price movements in both food and non-food commodities.

Commodity groups which drove down the August inflation were: Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (2.6%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels (2.1%); Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House (1.3%); Health (1.7%); Transport (0.4%); Education (1.3%); and Communication with no price movement.

In the past 8 months of 2019, headline inflation rate in August registered as the second slowest inflation, next to May with 1.2 percent, while the fastest was seen in the month of June at 4.1 percent.

On the year on year inflation, the 8th month headline still managed to slow down by 0.4 percentage points from 2.7 rate in July and slower by 4.9 percentage points than the 7.2 percent rate in August 2018.

“Month on month inflation, however, displayed three commodity groups that inched up in August, namely: Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages by 1.1 percent from 127.9 index in July to 129.3 in August; Transport by 0.8 percent from an index of 98.7 to 99.5 brought about by the 5.0 percent increment on transport services; and Recreation and Culture by 0.6 percent from 104.2 to 104.8 index”, Nelida B. Losare, Provincial Statistics Officer of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Guimaras, explained.

“Meanwhile, indices of seven commodity groups remain unchanged, these were: Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (228.2 index); Clothing and Footwear (115.2); Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House (134.3), Health (112.8); Communication (99.9); Education (118.1) and; Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (112.9) while only Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels showed a drop of 0.1 from 121.5 in July to 121.4,” Losare added.