Guimaras inflation holds steady at 3.5% in July

Guimaras’ inflation rate for the month of July 2020 stabilized at 3.5 percent after an unpredictable trend since the start of the year, according to the results of the Survey on Retail Prices of Commodities of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The constant motion on July inflation was due to the minimal increase on the annual price indices of all food and non-food items (July 2019 & July 2020) and the unchanged indices of Communication (99.9) and Education (118.1).

The items with a slight increment on its annual price index were: Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (2.3%); Clothing and Footwear (2.9%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels (3.2); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House (2.3%); Recreation and Culture (1.0%); and Health (5.3%). Three commodity items however, exhibited faster rate increase: Transport (7.1%); Restaurant & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (91.2%); and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (21.2%).

All the above-mentioned items generated a Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 124.4 for the month of July 2020 which means that an average Guimarasnon household needs PhP24.4 more in July 2020 to buy a basket of goods worth PhP100 in 2012.

Moreover, based on its monthly data, the CPI of the following commodity groups increased in July 2020 compared with the CPI in June 2020: Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (0.3%); Clothing & Footwear (0.3%); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House (0.7%); Health (1.5%); Transport (4.2%); and Restaurant & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (0.3%) while, Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels; and Recreation & Culture showed a decrement of 1.2, 0.5, and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Communication and Education displayed the same CPI movement on its monthly survey result (June and July 2020) with a similar index on the annual result (July 2019 and July 2020).

Meanwhile, comparing inflation rates across provinces of Western Visayas, Guimaras placed second among the provinces with the fastest inflation, next to Negros Occidental with 4.3 percent and followed by Aklan with 2.6 percent; while the slowest was seen in the provinces of Antique and Capiz, both with 2.3 percent, followed by Iloilo with 2.5 percent for the month of July 2020. (See Figure 2)

“The 3.5 percent inflation rate of Guimaras means that the prices of products bought July of this year are 3.5 percent higher than the prices of products in July 2019,” PSA-Guimaras Provincial Statistical Officer Nelida B. Losare explained.