Sluggish transport price drives Guimaras inflation to 8.1 pct in December 2022

The sluggish annual price movement of Transport at 1.6 percent drove Guimaras Inflation to 8.1 percent in December, slower from 8.3 percent in November, but faster than 4.7 percent in December 2021.

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

“Transport Commodity is one of the highlight-weighted nonfood commodities that slowed to 1.6 percent from 7.6 percent in November 20222. said Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

“Other heavily-weighted nonfood items that shared in the downtrend inflation were the 2.7 percent in Clothing and Footwear and the 0.6 percent in Health,” Losare added.

Losare also expounded that the –64.3 percent price drop in Passenger Transport by Sea and Inland Waterways and the 49.6 and 14.3 percent price cuts in Diesel and Gasoline pulled the Transport Commodity to 1.6 percent.

The 2.7 percent decrease in Clothing and Footwear was due to the slower annual prices of Garments for Men or Boys (4.6%); and Garments for Women or Girls (0.0%).

Likewise, the 0.6 percent price fall in Health was due to the Pharmaceutical Preparations used to Treat Illnesses and Diseases (-0.9%); and Treatment Devices for Personal use (4.8%).

Losare further explained that there were five commodity items that showed faster inflation in December 2022 than the previous month’s rate.

“Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco inched up to 8.5 percent from 7.1 percent; Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and   Other Fuels climbed to 4.0 percent from 3.6 percent; Furnishings, Household Equipment, and Routine Household Maintenance plunged a bit higher to 5.5 percent from 5.2 percent; Recreation, Sports and Culture swelled to 20.2 percent from 18.5 percent; and Personal Care and Miscellaneous Good and Services increased to 8.5 percent from 6.2 percent,” Losare elaborated

Likewise, five commodities maintained their previous month’s inflation rates: Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (11.6%); Information and Communication (0.6%); Education Services
(-0.3%); Restaurant and Accommodation Services (11.5%); and Finacial Services (0.0%).

The data also indicated that the average inflation for January to December 2022 stood at 7.0 percent, higher than the 6.7 percent average last month. (See Table 2).

The 8.1 inflation rate in December 2022 was the fourth-highest year-on-year rate recorded since 2019. (See table 3.)

Losare also stated that the inflation rate in December 2022 implied that the average price level of consumer goods and services increased to 8.1 percent from a low of 4.7 percent in December 2021.

“A CPI of 123.6 means that an average Guimarasnon household needs 23.6 pesos more in December 2022 to buy a basket of goods worth 100 pesos in 2018. The CPI is used to compute the inflation rate for a given period,” she added.

Meanwhile, Losare said the average Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in December 2022 is at 0.81, which is lower when compared to the previous year’s 0.87, illustrating that the purchasing power of the peso depreciated, thereby interpreting that the one peso in 2018, is now valued at 0.81 centavos.

“The PPP for December was lower against the 0.82 in November 2022.”