GUIMARAS – This island province recorded a -0.2 percent inflation rate in August this year, its second consecutive month of negative inflation and a slight increment from -0.5 percent in July, bringing the province’s average inflation for the first eight months of the year to 0.6 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)–Guimaras.
“The August 2025 inflation was higher by 0.3 percentage points compared to July’s -0.5 percent but significantly lower than the 5.5 percent recorded in the same month last year,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.
The uptrend last month was mainly influenced by faster annual price movements in food and non-alcoholic beverages which posted a quicker contraction at -2.3 percent from -3.2 percent in July, due to the increasing price of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, which registered 3.9 percent inflation in August from -8.9 percent in July, particularly, pumpkins, squash and gourds, fresh or chilled. This was followed by fish and other seafood with 3.6 percent inflation in August from -0.3 percent in July, specifically, fish, live, fresh, chilled or frozen.
“Transport also rebounded to 2.9 percent in August from -1.8 percent in July, pushed up by passenger transport services, which rose to 8.7 percent from 3.5 percent, generally, passenger transport by sea and inland waterway,” Losare said.
She added: “Health climbed to 4.1 percent in August from 1.0 percent in July, supported by medicines and health products, which posted 4.8 percent inflation from 0.5 percent in the previous month, reflecting higher prices of medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceutical preparations.”
Other commodity groups which also posted upward adjustments were alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 7.9 percent higher against 7.7 percent in July, furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance edged up to 0.2 percent from 0.0 percent, and recreation, sport and culture climbed to 0.8 percent from 0.1 percent.
In contrast, slower inflation was noted in clothing and footwear, which eased to 2.0 percent from 2.6 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which contracted sharply to -2.4 percent from 1.2 percent; and information and communication, which dropped to 0.9 percent from 2.9 percent.
Some commodity groups retained their previous month’s inflation rates, such as education services at -0.8 percent, restaurants and accommodation services at 10.4 percent, financial services at 0.0 percent, and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services at 1.4 percent.
Moreover, the top three contributors to the August 2025 overall inflation were food and non-alcoholic beverages with 2.08 percentage points, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 0.60 percentage points, and education services with 0.02 percentage points.
Meanwhile, comparing price changes regionwide, Western Visayas slipped into negative inflation at -0.3 percent in August 2025, reversing from 0.6 percent in July and from 5.0 percent in August 2024. Most provinces in the region recorded negative inflation, with only Iloilo Province at 0.2 percent and Iloilo City at 1.7 percent remaining positive. Guimaras’ -0.2 percent rate was slightly above the regional average of -0.3 percent, showing a more moderate decline compared to Antique at -3.2 percent and Aklan at -1.4 percent, and steadier than Iloilo Province’s sharp slowdown.
“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 posted a 133.0 CPI, translating that a typical Guimarasnon household needs P1,330 in August 2025 to purchase a basket of goods and services worth 1000 pesos in 2018,” Losare clarified.
“The Purchasing Power of the Peso (PPP) in Guimaras stood at P0.75 in August 2025, lower than P0.76 in July. This means that a peso in 2018 is now worth only 75 centavos in August 2025,” Losare added./PN
