GUIMARAS – The annual rate of price change in Guimaras province moved quicker in August due to the sharp rise in the costs of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 7.3 percent inflation, sharing 81.9 percent of the 4.1 percent headline inflation, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“Other commodities with a higher share to the August inflation trend were Transport with -11.9 percent inflation and Health with 1.7 percent inflation, contributing 16.1 and 1.6 percent to August inflation trend, respectively,” provincial statistics officer Nelida B. Losare said.
Transport inflation was driven by the faster price change of Gasoline at -10.9 percent from -24.8 percent in July 2023, followed by Diesel at -16.7 percent from 3.3 percent a month ago. Parts for personal transport equipment, with 2.3 percent inflation, also contributed.
“The top 3 sub-groups showed an 80.3, 19.5, and 0.1 percent share, respectively, to the inflation of Transport for August,” Losare added.
Meanwhile, Health inflation was driven by the accelerating price movements of Private Inpatient Curative and Rehabilitation Services at 5.6 percent inflation, Vitamins and Minerals at 0.7 percent inflation, and Medicines (branded and generic) at 1.5 percent inflation.
“All these got a share of 43.1, 42.6, and 14.4 percent each to the August Health inflation,” Losare said.
Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco also increased to 10.1 percent inflation, showing a 0.3 percent share to the August 4.1 headline inflation.
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, Losare clarified.
“The CPI of 126.3 in August 2023 indicates that a typical Guimarasnon household needs 1,263 pesos in August 2023 to purchase a basket of goods and services worth 1000 pesos in 2018,” Losare added.
“The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in Guimaras at 0.79 in August 2023 indicates that the one peso in 2018 is now worth 0.79 centavos, representing a 0.03 percentage point depreciation from the PPP value of 0.82 recorded in August 2022,” Losare said.(PSA)/PN
