GUIMARAS – The inflation rate in this island province rose to 2.8% in December 2024 from 2.5% in November 2024, bringing the provincial average inflation for January to December 2024 to 5.3%, based on the latest price data released by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA).
“The uptrend in the inflation 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 4.6 percent during the month, from 2.4 percent in November”, Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.
Food groups shared 77.9 percent to the uptrend of December inflation, while transport and clothing and footwear spliced 14.7 and 6.0 percent respectively.
Likewise, the fast-moving inflation rate was also noted in the other two commodity groups: Personal Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services at 1.5 percent in December from 1.2 percent in November 2024; and Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance at -0.3 percent from -0.5 percent in November 2024.
In contrast, the following were the items with slower inflation in December against November 2024:
* Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco,1.5 percent from 3.0 percent
* Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, 2.6 percent from 6.6 percent
* Health, 2.7 percent from 3.8 percent
* Recreation, Sport and Culture, 5.7 percent from 6.0 percent
* Restaurants and Accommodation Services, -5.7 percent from -0.5 percent
While the other three commodities retained their previous month’s inflation rate (Information and Communication – 3.3 percent, Education Services – 0.0 percent, and Financial Services – 0.0 percent).
Meanwhile, in December 2024, the overall inflation rate in Guimaras was primarily influenced by three major commodity groups. The largest contributor was food and non-alcoholic beverages at 77.9 percent of the province’s inflation rate, or 2.18 percentage points, with the notable surge primarily driven by a significant 17.3% increase in rice prices, impacting overall food costs.Moreover, Transportation contributed 4.9 percent, or 0.14 percentage points, to the overall inflation with the increase largely driven by a remarkable 42.2% inflation rate in Passenger Transport by Sea and Inland Waterway.
“The inflation rate is the rate of change in the consumer price index (CPI) derived by computing the indices relative to the same period in the previous year or month, and currently, Guimaras Province posted a 134.1 CPI, translating that a typical Guimarasnon household needs 1,341.00 pesos in December 2024 to purchase a basket of goods and services worth 1000 pesos in 2018,” Losare clarified.
She added: “The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in Guimaras retained at 0.75 in December 2024. This indicates that one peso in 2018 is now worth 0.75 centavos, recording a devaluation of 0.01 from 0.76 PPP in November 2024. The PPP in December 2023 was at 0.77 centavos.”/PN
