Two heavily weighted commodities push Guimaras’ November inflation

The year-on-year headline inflation rate in Guimaras in November 2020 moved faster to 4.1%, due to two heavily weighted commodity groups – the Food Alcoholic Beverages; and the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels – according to the Survey on Retail Prices of Commodities generated by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The mark-up prices on Food Alcoholic Beverages at 0.5% was due to the increasing price movement of Oil and Fats (12.5%); Corn (10.3%); Other Cereals, Flour, Cereal Preparation, Bread, Pasta and Other Bakery Products (6.5%); and Vegetables (4.4%).

“The 3.8% increment in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels was also due to increased indices of its sub-group: Household Appliances (32.7%); and Glassware, Tableware and Household Utensils (12.6%),” PSA-Guimaras Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

Other commodity items that posted price markups were: Alcoholic, beverages & Tobacco (6.2%); Clothing and Footwear (4.7%); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Maintenance of the House (3.8%); Health (5.7%); Transport (12.8%); Education (5.1%); and Restaurant & Miscellaneous Goods & Services by (5.9%).

“Only Recreation and Culture showed a slight decrement of 0.2 percent while Communication remained unchanged with 99.9 index,” Losare said.

“The fourth quarter of the year started with a slower inflation of 3.3% in October but moved up to 4.1% in November, the highest inflation recorded since the second quarter of 2020,” Losare added.

Losare also explained that the 4.1% inflation rate was derived from the generated 125.6 Consumer Price Index (CPI), which simply means that an average Guimarasnon household needed P25.6 more in November 2020 to buy a basket of goods worth 100 pesos in 2012.

Additionally, the average Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in the province depreciated where P1 in 2012 is valued at 0.80 centavos in November 2020.

Guimaras, with an inflation rate of 4.1%, placed second among the provinces in Western Visayas with the fastest inflation, next to Negros Occidental with 4.6 percent.