1. Guimaras Inflation for Bottom 30% Income HHs

The Guimaras inflation for the bottom 30% income HHs moved faster to 8.5 percent in July 2024 from 7.6 percent in June 2024, bringing the provincial average inflation to 7.8 for low-income from January to July 2024. In July 2023, the said inflation rate was slower at 2.8 percent. (Figure 1 and Table 1)

       1.1 Main  Drivers to the Upward Trend of the Bottom 30% Income HHs’ Inflation

The rise of inflation in July 2024 for the low-income HHs was primarily influenced by the growing year-on-year price changes in the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 12.5 percent during the month, from 10.9 percent in June 2024. The increasing annual inflation rate of Transport at 4.7 percent in July 2024 from 2.5 percent in the previous month also contributed to the faster overall inflation of the bottom 30% income HHs.

Likewise, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco posted 3.4 percent inflation higher against 3.1 percent in June 2024.

Other commodities which showed gradual increase in inflation rates for low income HHs in July 2024 were:

    a. Health, 0.1 percent from -0.3 percent

    b. Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, 3.7 percent from 3.5 percent

In contrast, four commodity groups showed slower rates in July 2024 against the previous month’s data:

    a. Clothing and Footwear, 2.3 percent from 2.5 percent

    b. Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, 0.7 percent from 2.2 percent

    c. Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance, 2.4 percent from 3.4        percent

    d. Recreation, Sport and Culture, 13.3 percent from 14.3 percent

Moreover, Information and Communication, Education Services, Restaurants and Accommodation Services, and Financial Services retained their previous month’s annual rates.

   1.2 Main Contributors to the Bottom 30% Income HHs’ Inflation

     a.    aaaaaaaaaaaa .aThe top three commodity groups with major contribution to the June 2024 overall bottom 30% income HHs inflation were the followingFood and Non-Alcoholic Beverages with 89.6 percent share contributed 7.62 percentage                   points;

     b. Transport with 2.8 percent chipped in 0.24 percentage points; and

     c. Restaurants and Accommodation Services, with 2.1 percent share added 0.18

2. Bottom 30% Income HHs’ Inflation per province in Region VI

Aklan, Guimaras and Antique posted speedy inflation for low-income HHs among the six provinces in Western Visayas (WV) with 8.7, 8.5 and 7.6 percent, respectively, followed closely by Negros Occidental and Capiz, both with 5.4 percent.

Iloilo reported the slowest inflation for the bottom 30% income HHs in WV, recording 3.9 percent.

In terms of inflation trend from June to July 2024, the province with the highest inflation Increment was Iloilo, with 2.1 percentage points from 6.0 to 3.9 percent inflation. Followed by Capiz with a slump of 0.4 percentage points from 5.8 to 5.4 inflation and Antique with 0.2 percentage points gap from 7.6 to 7.4 percent inflation.

Guimaras showed the slowest inflation rate changes with a -0.9-percentage points difference, from 7.6 to 8.5 percent inflation, followed by Negros Occidental with which showed -0.2 percentage points change from 5.2 to 5.4 percent annual price change, and also Antique from 7.4 to 7.6 percent inflation.

Meanwhile, from January 2024 to June 2024, all provinces posted an erratic movement