Inflation in Guimaras picks up in April

THE slow inflation in Guimaras province in the first quarter of 2019 inched up to 2.6 percent in April due to accelerated indices of eight commodity groups of both food and non-food.

Two indices remain unchanged (communication and education) while health slowed down in April.

The food and non- food commodity groups which pushed the inflation a bit higher in April to 2.6 percent were:

• Transport increased by 4.9 percentage points to an index of 102.9% from 98.0% in March ;
• Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco by 1.5 percentage points to an index of 220.0% from 218.5%;
• Recreation and Culture by 1.0 percentage points to an index of 101.9% from 100.9%; and
• the remaining food groups which showed increments of 0.4 percent and below were:
• • Food and Non -Alcoholic Beverages increased by 0.4 percentage points
  • Clothing and Footwear by 0.4 percentage points
  • Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels by 0.1 percentage points
  • Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance of the House by 0.2 percentage points
  • Recreation and Culture by 0.1 percentage points; and
  • Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services by 0.1 percentage points

However, Heath fall from 112.9 rate in March to 112.6 rate in April while, Communication and Culture remain unchanged with 99.9 and 116.6 rates, respectively.

Comparing inflation rates of the provinces in Western Visayas region, only Guimaras province marginally increased its index while the other five provinces showed a slow price growth in the first month of the second quarter.

Guimaras remained at rank No. 4 in terms of slowest inflation rate from January to April 2019 while Antique was at rank no.1 in the first two months, however, on the third and fourth months Aklan outranked other provinces with a slowest rate of 1.0 and 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, Antique which occupied rank No. 2, Iloilo at No. 3 and Capiz at No. 5 also revealed consistent price dropped in the first four months of the current year, on the other hand, Negros Occidental recorded the fastest inflation rates in the first four months of 2019.