Low-income inflation in Guimaras turns negative in 2025

The average inflation rate for consumer prices in Guimaras’ bottom 30 percent income households declined to –0.3 percent in 2025 from 6.6 percent in 2024, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

At the national level, the average inflation rate for low-income households stood at 0.3 percent in 2025, while Western Visayas recorded 0.2 percent, both higher than Guimaras’ average for the year.

“From a historical perspective, inflation for low-income households in Guimaras increased from 3.9 percent in 2019 to 7.0 percent in 2022, before decelerating to 6.0 percent in 2023 and rising again to 6.6 percent in 2024,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

“In 2025, the inflation rate moved into negative territory, reflecting a decline in the average prices of selected goods and services commonly purchased by low-income households,” she added.

Losare said the Consumer Price Index for the bottom 30 percent income households in Guimaras was recorded at 133.8 in 2025.

“This means that a typical low-income Guimarason household needs PHP 1,338.00 in 2025 to purchase the same basket of goods and services that cost PHP 1,000.00 in 2018,” Losare said.

The decline in average inflation in 2025 was mainly attributed to food and nonalcoholic beverages, which posted a –2.0 percent rate, significantly lower than the 8.8 percent recorded in 2024, particularly due to lower rice prices.

Also contributing to the downward movement were housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, which declined to –0.5 percent from 4.2 percent, and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services, which eased to 1.2 percent from 4.0 percent.

Higher inflation rates, however, were observed in six commodity groups, including alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 8.9 percent, health at 3.2 percent, transport at 1.7 percent, information and communication at 3.3 percent, education services at –0.5 percent, and restaurants and accommodation services at 6.2 percent, all higher than their respective rates in 2024.

Of the 13 commodity groups, only personal care and miscellaneous goods and services maintained the same 1.2 percent inflation rate in 2025.

The top contributors to the overall average inflation of low-income households in Guimaras in 2025 were food and nonalcoholic beverages, with a 0.87 percentage-point contribution, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 0.04 percentage points, while education services had minimal impact.

“Under food and nonalcoholic beverages, the decrease in rice prices was identified as the major contributor to the group’s overall inflation,” Losare said.

She added that lower electricity rates from various energy sources primarily drove the decline in housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels.

At the regional level, Western Visayas recorded an average inflation rate of 0.2 percent for low-income households in 2025, lower than the 4.8 percent posted in 2024.

Among the provinces, Guimaras was one of three that posted negative average inflation rates, along with Aklan at –1.5 percent and Antique at –2.0 percent.

In contrast, positive inflation rates were recorded in Capiz at 1.2 percent, Iloilo province at 0.9 percent, and Iloilo City at 2.5 percent, reflecting varied price movements across the region.