Guimaras inflation decelerates to 4.3% in March 2021

Guimaras’ year-on-year inflation decelerated to 4.3 percent in March 2021 from its previous year’s inflation at 4.4 percent, based on the result of the Survey on Retail Prices of Commodities generated by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Compared to February’s annual inflation, Guimaras’ inflation in March is slower by 1.2 percentage points.

Guimaras Provincial Statistics Officer (PSO) Nelida B. Losare said that despite the price increment in the five commodity groups (four from non-food and one from Food & Beverages), inflation in March slackened to 4.3 percent due to the slowed price indices on food and non-alcoholic beverages and the four other non-food commodity groups.

Slower annual change was noted in the indices of four non-food commodity groups: Clothing and footwear (3.9%), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels (2.0%); Furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (4.6%) and Recreation and Culture (-1.5%).

The slowdown in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages at 0.2 percent also contributed to the slower inflation in March.

Moreover, faster rate of price changes was noted among the following food and non-food commodity groups: Transport (22.4%), Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (11.7%), Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (10.5%), and Health (1.2%). Communication slightly increased by 0.1 percent.

The 67.5 percent price hike on transportation services fueled the 22.4% inflation in the Transport Commodity group in March 2021, which also escalated prices on Catering Services at 13.4 percent.

This also pushed inflation for Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services to 10.5 percent.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages, however, had slower annual rate of change at 0.2 percent push down by the Food commodity groups as eight out of nine food groups showed decelerated indices in March 2021:

-Vegetables with 1.9 percent inflation from 10.4 percent in February 2021;

-Food Products N.E.C. with 3.1 percent from 5.3 percent;

-Bread and cereals at -6.0 percent from -4.1 percent;

-Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate and Confectionery at -1.1 percent from 0.5 percent;

-Meat at 6.1 percent from 7.7 percent;

-Milk, cheese and eggs at 3.9 from 5.0 percent;

-Oils and fats at 13.3 percent from 14.8 percent; and

Fruits at 0.5 percent from 1.9 percent.

Only Fish among the food groups increased in prices at 5.7 percent, faster than the 5.3 percent in February 2021.

Among the non-food commodity groups only Recreation and Culture deflated to -1.5 percent.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all items in the province in March 2021 was at 128.1 which means that the average Guimarasnon household needs PhP28.00 more to buy a basket of goods worth PhP100 in 2012.