Guimaras low-income inflation steady at –1.3%

The inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent income households in Guimaras held steady at –1.3 percent in October 2025, unchanged from the previous month.

This brought the province’s average inflation for low-income households from January to October 2025 to 0.2 percent.

In comparison, the inflation rate for the same income group stood at 5.1 percent in October 2024.

“The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the bottom 30 percent income households in Guimaras was recorded at 132.5 in October 2025,” said Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare.

“This means that a typical low-income Guimarasnon household needed PHP 1,325.00 in October 2025 to purchase the same basket of goods and services worth PHP 1,000.00 in 2018,” she explained.

Despite the stable overall inflation, Losare noted that three commodity groups recorded higher annual price indices in October compared to September.

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco rose to 10.0 percent from 9.9 percent. Clothing and footwear increased to 1.6 percent from 1.3 percent. Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels improved to –3.6 percent from –7.5 percent.

In contrast, slower inflation was observed in health, which eased to 3.8 percent from 4.3 percent.

Transport declined to 4.9 percent from 5.4 percent. Information and communication fell to 0.0 percent from 2.0 percent.

Some commodity groups maintained their previous month’s inflation rates. These included furnishings, household equipment, and routine maintenance (0.5 percent), recreation, sport, and culture (0.5 percent), education services (0.8 percent), restaurants and accommodation services (10.5 percent), financial services (0.0 percent), and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services (0.5 percent).

The top contributors to October’s overall inflation rate for low-income households in Guimaras were food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, and education services.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 176.4 percent or 2.29 percentage points. Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels accounted for 30.8 percent or 0.40 percentage point. Education services added 0.4 percent or 0.01 percentage point.

“Under food and non-alcoholic beverages, the decline in rice prices was identified as the major contributor to the group’s overall negative inflation,” Losare said.

She added that lower electricity rates from coal, solar, and hydro power sources contributed to the negative inflation in housing and utilities, offsetting price increases in other components.

Regionally, inflation for low-income households in Western Visayas slightly increased to –1.4 percent in October 2025 from –2.3 percent in September 2025.

Despite the uptick, this was still significantly lower than the 5.9 percent recorded in October 2024.

In Guimaras, inflation for the bottom 30 percent remained unchanged at –1.3 percent month on month and was far below the October 2024 rate of 5.1 percent.

Among Western Visayas provinces, Guimaras experienced a milder decline.

Its negative inflation was less severe than Antique (–2.4 percent) and Aklan (–2.7 percent), but more pronounced than Capiz (–0.2 percent), Iloilo (–1.4 percent), and the highly urbanized Iloilo City (1.5 percent).

This positioned Guimaras in the middle range of provincial inflation performance for October.

A 13-month analysis showed that inflation for low-income households in Guimaras consistently slowed from a peak of 5.1 percent in October 2024 to negative territory beginning March 2025.

The province sustained mild deflation through October 2025, closely aligning with the region’s broader trend of subdued price movements.