Guimaras inflation rises to 6.8% in July due to soaring rice and gasoline prices

The inflation rate in Guimaras province climbed to 6.8% in July 2024, up from 6.2% in June, driven largely by rapid increases in the prices of food, particularly rice, and transportation costs, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Rice prices experienced a steep inflation rate of 28.5%, while gasoline prices saw a 3.7% increase, significantly contributing to the province’s overall inflation.

“Aside from Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages with an inflation of 10.7%, higher than the 9.4% recorded a month ago, and Transport with 4.9% inflation, faster than the 3.8% annual price change in June, Health Commodity also contributed to the uptrend of July inflation,” said Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare.

Losare explained that a 1.9% price increase in medicines, including both branded and generic products, pushed Health Commodity inflation to 7.7% in July, up from 7.2% in June 2024.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages were the primary drivers of the inflation increase, accounting for 87.7% of the uptrend, while transportation and health contributed 10.3% and 2.0%, respectively.

Additionally, the rising costs of Recreation, Sport, and Culture, which saw inflation tick up to 10.7% from 10.6% in June, also played a significant role in the inflation rate for July.

In contrast, certain commodity groups saw slower inflation rates in July, including Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Clothing and Footwear, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels, Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, and Personal Care and Miscellaneous Goods and Services.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy items, edged up slightly to 3.6% in July 2024 from 3.5% in June, though it remained lower than the 4.1% recorded in July 2023.

“The Inflation Rate is the rate of change in the CPI derived by computing the indices relative to the same period in the previous year or month, and currently, Guimaras Province posted a 132.7 CPI, translating that a typical Guimarasnon household needs PHP 1,327.00 in July 2024 to purchase a basket of goods and services worth PHP 1,000 in 2018,” Losare clarified.

Losare also noted the depreciation of the Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in Guimaras to 0.75 in July 2024, down from 0.76 in the previous three months, indicating that one peso in 2018 is now worth only 75 centavos.