ILOILO City – Rising prices are hitting low-income families in Western Visayas particularly hard, with Iloilo province posting a 12.5-percent inflation rate among households belonging to the bottom 30 percent income group in July, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The Iloilo rate was the highest among areas in Western Visayas and was well above the region’s 9.8 percent and the national rate of 8.2 percent for the same income group during the month.
Inflation among Iloilo’s poorest households climbed sharply from 9.3 percent in June, or by 3.2 percentage points in just one month.
Aklan followed with 11.3 percent in July, while Antique recorded 10.2 percent.
Iloilo City registered 9.3 percent, followed by Guimaras at 5.7 percent and Capiz at 3.9 percent.
For Western Visayas as a whole, inflation among bottom-30-percent households accelerated from 8.1 percent in June to 9.8 percent in July.
The regional figure represented a sharp reversal from July 2025, when inflation for the same income group stood at negative 1.1 percent.
In its latest report released on Sept. 4, 2026, the PSA said inflation among the country’s bottom 30 percent income households remained at 8.2 percent in August, unchanged from July.
This was significantly higher than the negative 0.6 percent recorded in August 2025. Average inflation for the income group reached 6.2 percent from January to August this year.
Food remained the biggest source of price pressure on low-income families.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 52.5 percent of August inflation among bottom-30-percent households nationwide, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 18.9 percent and transportation at 12 percent.
Together, the three expenditure groups accounted for more than 83 percent of inflation experienced by the country’s poorest households.
Rice continued to exert significant pressure on household budgets. National rice inflation for the bottom 30 percent accelerated to 22.5 percent in August from 19.3 percent in July.
The PSA maintains a separate consumer price index for the bottom 30 percent income group because poorer households have spending patterns different from those of the general population, with a larger portion of their limited budgets devoted to food and other basic necessities.
The latest national figures also showed a wide geographical disparity.
Inflation among bottom-30-percent households outside Metro Manila edged up to 8.4 percent in August from 8.3 percent in July, while the rate in the National Capital Region eased to 4.3 percent from 4.5 percent.
Detailed August figures for bottom-30-percent households in Western Visayas and its provinces have yet to be released by the PSA regional offices./PN
