Sluggish prices of food, non-alcoholic drinks slow down Guimaras inflation in April

Guimaras’ headline inflation rate eased to 4.8% in April 2023 from 6.4 percent in March due to the slow-moving price movements in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages at 7.5%.

This is based on data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the Retail Price Survey (RPS) of Commodities conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages inflation rate showed the highest share of 82.8% to the slower inflation of Guimaras Province at 4.8% in April, followed by Transport, and Restaurants and Accommodation Services with 10.2 and 2.7% share, respectively,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

Losare said the downtrend in prices of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (7.5%) was mainly due to slower price movement of the food groups, specifically tubers, vegetables, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses (2.7%), Fish and other seafood (7.4%) and Fruits and nuts (7.7). Each group shared 56.9, 34.0 and 5.4 percent, respectively to the total inflation rate.

Other food items that pulled down food inflation in April 2023 to a slower rate were: Sugar, confectionery, and desserts with 34.5% inflation and 2.8% share; Oils and fats with 25.8% inflation and 0.6% share; Flour, Bread, and Other Bakery Products, Pasta Products, And Other Cereals with 4.7 percent inflation and 0.2% share; and Corn with 10.6% inflation and 0.1% share.

“Overall, the food inflation in April subsided to 7.7 percent from 10.6 percent a month ago, which recorded an increment of 2.27 percentage points when compared to the 5.5 percent food inflation in April 2022, while the Non-Alcoholic Beverages soared to 6.5 percent in April 2023 against previous months rate at 5.8 percent, yet, slower than the 7.4 percent inflation in the same month a year ago,” Losare said.

Losare also explained that aside from the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, the slower inflation on Transport at -7.4 percent also pushed the headline inflation to a slower pace in April.

This is mainly due to sluggish inflation in Gasoline with -13.1% and 43.8% share; Diesel with -18.2% and 31.3% share; Passenger Transport by Sea and inland Waterway with -56.8% and 24.7% share; Batteries at -2.5% and 0.1% share, and tire repair/tire change with 5.3%, also with 0.1% share.

The 13% inflation in Restaurants and Accommodation Services also contributed to a significant downtrend in the April rate due to the slower price movement in Restaurants, Café, and the-like-full services at 13.3%, lower than the 14.1 percent inflation a month ago.

Losare added that the other commodities which posted lower inflation rates in April 2023 than the previous month were: Recreation, Sport, and Culture (10.2%); Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (4.0%); Health (0.2%); Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (9.3%); Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (7.3%); Clothing and Footwear (9%); Information and Communication (0.5%).

Only Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels (1.1%), Education Services (-0.3%), and Financial Services (0.0%) maintained their inflation rates from the previous month.

The inflation rate in April 2023 implied that the average price changes of consumer goods and services moved slower to 4.8 percent from 6.4 percent in March 2023.

 Losare also highlighted that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 123.3 indicates that a typical Guimarasnon household will require 1,233 pesos in April 2023 to purchase a basket of items worth 1000 pesos in 2018. 

The CPI is used to compute the inflation rate for a specific period, including the Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP),” Losare clarified.

“The PPP in Guimaras at 0.81 indicates a 0.04 percentage points depreciation from the PPP value of 0.85 recorded in April 2022,” Losare added.