Guimaras’ inflation rate slows to 2.8% in April 2020

The year-on-year Inflation Rate (IR) of Guimaras slowed down to 2.8 percent in April 2020, from 4.4 percent inflation a month ago.

The April IR is a bit faster compared to the 2.6 percent in April 2019, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The inflation rate is the percentage increase or decrease in prices during a specified period, usually a month or a year.

Improvements in April inflation was brought by –13.5 percent decrease in the Transport sector, which offset the faster price adjustments in the Food and non-alcoholic beverages and other non-food commodity items.

The 2.8 percent inflation in April was also the slowest inflation level in 2020 and the 7th highest level since January of 2019.

Inflation in Guimaras province peaked in March 2020 at 4.4 percent, followed by 4.1 percent in June 2019, and 3.8 percent and 3.7 percent in February and January of 2020, respectively.

The rate was also slow at 3.2 and 2.9 in January and October of 2019, respectively.

By major commodity group items, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco posted the highest inflation rates at 23.3 percent, lower than the February 2020 level at 24.1 percent, followed with a large gap by Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages with 5.1 percent inflation.

Four of 11 commodity groups surpassed their March inflation level and two commodity groups (Communication & Education) maintained their levels in April while five slowed down:

-Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, from 24.1% to 23.3%

-Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels from 6.6% to 4.5%

-Transport from –3.3% to –13.5%

-Recreation & Culture from 4.9% to 4.1%

-Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services from 2.8% to 2.6%

Among the Food Sub Group, seven commodity items posted faster price movements in April 2020: vegetables (16.7%); Fish (8.6%); Food Products N.E.C. (8.6%); Corn (8.4%); Bread and Cereals (2.9%); Milk, Cheese and Eggs (2.1%); and Rice (1.9%).

Prices of Fruits and Oils and fats decreased by 7.5 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively.

Meat and Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate & Confectionery, however, posted slower price movements, lower than the 2019 indices a –0.2 and –1.9 percent inflation rates, respectively.