13 January 2025– Guimaras. Inflation for low-income households in Guimaras rose to 4.3% by the end of 2024, up from 3.9% in November, bringing the provincial average inflation for January to December 2024 to 6.6%, reflecting fluctuations throughout the year, based on the latest price data released by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA).
“The uptrend in the inflation for low income households in December 2024 was primarily influenced by the increase of the year-on-year price change in the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.1 percent during the month, from 4.4 percent in November”, Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

“The rapid annual price change on transport at 1.7 percent in December 2024 from -0.2 percent in the previous month and clothing and footwear at 1.6 percent from 0.1 percent a month ago also contributed to the soaring bottom 30% income households’ inflation,” Losare added.

Food groups shared 82.8 percent to the uptrend of the said inflation, while transport and clothing and footwear spliced 11.7 and 3.4 percent respectively.

Likewise, the fast-moving inflation rate was also noted in the other two commodity groups: furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance at 1.7 percent in December from 0.9 percent in November 2024; and personal care, and miscellaneous goods and services at 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent in November 2024.

In contrast, the following were the items with slower inflation in December than in November 2024: • Alcoholic beverages and tobacco,1.4 percent from 3.0 percent 

• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, 2.9 percent from 8.6 percent

• Health, 1.9 percent from 2.7 percent 

• Restaurants and accommodation services, -5.9 percent from -0.6 percent

Moreover, 4 out of 11 commodity groups retained their previous month’s inflation rate (information and communication: 5.5 percent, recreation, sport and culture: 4.7 percent, education services: 0.0 percent, and financial services; 0.0 percent).

Meanwhile, in December 2024, the inflation for low-income households in Guimaras was primarily influenced by three major commodity groups.

The largest contributor was food and non-alcoholic beverages at 85.8 percent of the province’s inflation rate, or 3.69 percentage points contribution, with the notable surge primarily driven by a significant 17.7% increase in rice prices, impacting overall food costs.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels followed closely at 7.8 percent, or 0.33 percentage points contribution to the inflation, with a significant impact from electricity prices across all sources—coal, solar, and hydro—showing an inflation rate of 7.6%.

Lastly, information and communication contributed 2.6 percent, or 0.11 percentage points, to the overall inflation with the increase largely driven by a remarkable 18.7% inflation rate in Equipment for the reception, recording and reproduction of sound and vision.

While inflation rates in Western Visayas fluctuated significantly throughout 2024, four (4) provinces experienced relatively higher inflation rates according to data presented in Figure 2, which shows the inflation rate for the bottom 30% of income households in the region by province and HUCs, using 2018 as the base year.

Comparing inflation for the low-income household in the region, Guimaras recorded the highest inflation rates in four months: January (5.5%), March (8.5%), May (8.8%), and September (6.0%), while Antique recorded higher inflation rates in February (7.6%), March (8.5%), and April (9.1%).

Iloilo also exhibited higher inflation rates in August and October at 7.4 percent each and in November at 5.1 percent, while Aklan got the highest inflation rates in June and July at 8.9 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively. Furthermore, Iloilo City posted the highest inflation rate in December at 5.1 percent.

Iloilo City exhibited dynamic patterns, enjoying the lowest inflation rates among the six provinces and two HUCs of the region for eight months, from January until August. See Figure 2

“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 136.2 CPI, translating that a typical low-income Guimarasnon needs 1,362.00 pesos in December 2024 to purchase a basket of goods and services worth 1000 pesos in 2018," Losare clarified.