10 April 2025– Guimaras. Inflation for Guimaras’ bottom 30% income households cooled to 0.7% in March 2025, down from 1.3% in February and a steep drop from 8.5% in March 2024, bringing the Q1 average to 2.1%, based on the latest price statistics of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“The downtrend in the overall inflation for the bottom 30% income households in March 2025 was primarily influenced by the decreased year-on-year price change in the heavily weighted food and non alcoholic beverages at 0.0% during the month, from 1.5% in February 2025,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

“The slow-moving annual price change on housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 0.6% in March 2025 from 2.2% in the previous month also contributed to the slower inflation rate,” Losare added.

The Food and non-alcoholic beverages commodity group shared 83.1% of the downtrend of March inflation, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and personal care spliced 16.9%.

“From February to March 2025, food and non-alcoholic beverages, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels were mainly pushed by the slow-moving price movement of rice with -4.6% inflation from 5.2%, electricity from all sources (coal, solar, hydro, etc. with -2.1% from 4.8%, respectively,” Losare said

In contrast, four commodity groups showed faster inflation rates in March 2025: 

a. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 10.1% from 4.2% 

b. Health, 2.7% from 2.2% 

c. Transport, -0.1% from -0.7%, and 

d. Restaurants and accommodation services, -3.2% from -8.2%

While clothing and footwear (1.5%), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (1.2 %), information and communication (5.5%), recreation, sport and culture (1.2%), education services (0.0%), financial services (0.0%), and personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services (1.6%), retained their previous month’s annual rates.

Moreover, in March 2025, the overall inflation rate for low-income HHs in Guimaras was primarily influenced by: alcoholic beverages and tobacco with a 77.4% contribution of the province’s inflation rate, or 0.41 percentage points, with the notable price increase primarily driven by a significant 9.7% surge in Cigarettes, impacting overall alcoholic beverages and tobacco costs.

Information and communication followed closely with an 11.3% impact on overall province’s inflation, or 0.08 percentage points, with a noteworthy bearing from television sets, and TV aerials of all types— showing an inflation rate of 18.7%.

Lastly, housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels also noted a significant effect on the overall province’s inflation of 8.2%, or 0.06 percentage points, with a substantial weight from wood and bamboo charcoal—displaying an inflation rate of 14.5%.

From March 2024 to March 2025, inflation rates for the bottom 30% income households in Western Visayas exhibited a generally declining trend across all six provinces, with Antique, Guimaras, and Aklan starting at some of the highest rates of 8.5%, 8.5%, and 5.4% respectively and then seeing significant drops by March 2025—Antique fell to -1.3%, Aklan to -0.1%, and Guimaras to 0.7%—reflecting a substantial easing in price pressures.

Among these provinces, Antique experienced the steepest decline, dropping by 9.8 percentage points over the 13-month series, while Capiz and Iloilo maintained relatively stable patterns, ending at 2.7% and 4.3% respectively.

Negros Occidental, which began at 2.7%, gradually increased to 3.2%, all amid erratic movements marked by sharp rises and dips from June to October 2024 in provinces like Iloilo and Aklan.

“The Inflation Rate is the rate of change in the CPI derived by computing the indices relative to the same period in the previous year or month, and currently, Guimaras Province posted a 135.1 CPI, translating that a typical low-income Guimarasnon needs 1,351.00 pesos in March 2025 to purchase a basket of goods and services worth 1000 pesos in 2018," Losare clarified.