Guimaras’ inflation rate slows to 3.4% in September

The third quarter of 2020 for Guimaras province ended with an inflation rate of 3.4 percent in September 2020, slower by 0.3 percentage points from 3.7 percent in August and 0.1 percentage point from a steady rate of 3.5 percent in June and July, according to the Survey of Retail Prices of Commodities of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA generated a Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 125.4 for the month of September 2020 from 125.2 in August 2020.

The month-on-month increase on the CPI is brought about by the increased indices of the following commodity groups in September 2020 relative to the indices in August 2020: Transport (5.8 percent); Education (5.1 percent); Restaurant & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (2.1 percent); Clothing & Footwear (1.1 percent); Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (0.5 percent); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House (0.4 percent); and Recreation & Culture (0.3 percent).

Meanwhile, the CPI of the following commodity groups decreased in September 2020 compared to the prices in August 2020: Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (-1.7 percent); Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-0.2 percent); and Health (-0.1 percent).

Additionally, Transport posted the highest annual mark-up with an 11.4 percent increase in prices from an index of 100.1 in September 2019 to an index of 111.5 in September 2020 and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages decreased by -0.6 percent from an index of 130.4 in September 2019 to an index of 129.6 in September 2020.

Consequently, the average Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in September 2020 is at 0.80 which is lower compared to the previous year’s 0.82 which means that the purchasing power of the peso depreciated, thereby interpreting that the one peso in 2012 is now valued at 0.80 centavos.

“A CPI of 125.4 means that an average Guimarasnon household needs 25.4 pesos more in September 2020 to buy a basket of goods worth 100 pesos in 2012 and this CPI is used to compute the inflation rate for a given period of time,” according to Nelida B. Losare, Chief Statistical Specialist of PSA Guimaras.

“An inflation rate of 3.4 percent means that the prices of products in September 2020 have increased, on the average, by 3.4 percent compared to the prices of products in September 2019,” she added.