Guimaras low-income inflation stays negative in January 2026

Selected commodity groups, particularly transport and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, influenced inflation among low-income households in Guimaras in January 2026, with higher transport costs partly offsetting price declines in other commodity groups while overall inflation for the bottom 30% of income households remained in negative territory at -2.2%, based on the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Guimaras.

Inflation refers to the year-on-year change in prices of a standard “basket” of goods and services, while a negative rate indicates deflation, or a decline in average prices compared with the same month a year earlier.

In comparison, the inflation rate for the Philippines stood at 1.6% in January 2026, while Western Visayas recorded an inflation rate of 1.4%.

“The national and regional figures are notably higher than Guimaras’ -2.2 percent. This figure is a bit higher than -2.3 and 4.2 percent in December and January 2025, respectively,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

Losare further said the Consumer Price Index for the bottom 30% income households in Guimaras was recorded at 133.8 in January 2026.

“This means that a typical low-income Guimarasnon household needs PHP 1,338.00 in January 2026 to purchase the same basket of goods and services worth PHP 1,000.00 in 2018,” Losare added.

The faster inflation in January 2026 for low-income households was primarily influenced by increasing year-on-year price changes in heavily weighted transport at 4.3% during the month, up from 1.3% in December 2025.

The annual inflation rate of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels rose to -0.6% in January 2026 from -1.3% in the previous month.

Restaurants and accommodation services also accelerated to 12.0% in January 2026 from 10.5% a month earlier.

Faster annual increases were also recorded in personal care and miscellaneous goods and services, which rose to 2.1% from 0.3%.

Clothing and footwear increased to 1.4% from 0.2%, while information and communication climbed to 1.4% from 0.0%.

Furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance rose to 2.1% from 1.1%, and recreation, sport, and culture increased to 1.2% from 0.5%.

In contrast, food and nonalcoholic beverages posted 5.5% from 5.2%, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco slowed to 5.8% from 8.2%.

Education services, at 0.8%, and financial services, at 0.0%, retained their previous month’s annual rates.

The top two commodity groups that significantly contributed to the overall inflation in January 2026 for low-income households were food and nonalcoholic beverages, with 115.6% inflation contributing 3.42 percentage points, and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, with 2.8% or a 0.06 percentage point share.

“Under food and non-Alcoholic Beverages, the increase in rice prices was identified as the major contributor to the group’s overall inflation. Meanwhile, the escalating price in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels was primarily attributed to lower electricity rates from various energy sources such as coal, solar, and hydro, which helped offset price increases in other commodities,” Losare said.