ILOILO City – The province of Guimaras ended the year 2018 with its monthly inflation rates at its fastest pace except for the month of December as compared to the last two years, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
PSA-Guimaras data indicated that the monthly inflation performance of the province last year consistently posted an increment starting at 3.3 percent in the first month until it reached at 6.4 percent in May.
However, it declined to 5.1 percent in June and again went up until it reached its peak at 7.2 percent in August, however, it went down to 5.2 percent after two months and slightly picked-up to 5.4 percent in November and finally settled at a slower rate of 4.7 percent in December 2018.
Comparing the province’s headline monthly inflation for the years 2016-2018, the fastest rate was at 7.2 percent in August 2018 and the slowest was at 1.1 percent in July 2017.
PSA data further showed that Guimaras’ average inflation rate in 2018 at 5.2 percent is faster more than twice than the 2017 average inflation rate at 2.4 percent.
The drop in the province’s inflation in December last year at 4.7 percent was due mainly to slower indices of transport which recorded a decrease of 3.98 percent and food, and non-alcoholic beverages at – 0.16 percent, the PSA-Guimaras data showed.
Indices of all the food groups registering slower increments also contributed to the drop in December 2018 as compared with the previous month’s rates.
Communication and education remained stable at 99.9 percent and 116.6 percent, respectively.
Fruits contributed a higher gain of 3 percent while other cereals, flour, cereal preparation, bread, pasta and other bakery products registered 0.27 percent, meat, 0.08 percent, and milk, cheese and eggs 0.09 percent. (PIA/PN)
