JORDAN – Guimaras province’s inflation rate for the bottom 30% low-income households (HHs) ended its five straight months of acceleration in June due to the slower rise in food, clothing, and tobacco costs, as indicated in the latest price statistics from the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA).
Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida Losare explained that inflation, which measures the rate of increase in goods and services, dropped to 7.6% in June 2024, slower than the 8.8% rate in May.
The year-on-year inflation rate in June was faster than the 4.5% rate in the same month last year.
The slower inflation rate in June broke the acceleration mark in the first semester of 2024, bringing the provincial average inflation for low-income to 7.7 percent.
The three heavily weighted commodity groups that mainly drove the inflation trend in June from May 2024 were food and non-alcoholic beverages, with 10.9% from 12.7%; clothing and footwear, with 2.5% from 3.5%; and alcoholic beverages and tobacco, with 3.1% from 3.7%.
Losare said the price increase on food and non-alcoholic beverages was mainly pushed by the slow-moving prices of cereals and cereal products, specifically on rice with 26.7% from 31.6% inflation in May 2024, while clothing and gootwear pressed by the sluggish price index of garments, particularly on garments for women or girls with 1.3% from 6.0%, and the alcoholic beverages and tobacco, was driven by the gradual-changing price on tobacco mainly on cigarettes with 1.8 % from 2.9 % inflation rate.
In contrast, only housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels showed a faster rate of 2.2% in June 2024 against the inflation data in May 2024 at 3.5%.
Meanwhile, the top three commodity groups contributing to the June 2024 overall inflation for the low-income HHs are food and non-alcoholic beverages with 87.4 percent share or 6.64 percentage points; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 3.4 percent share or 0.26 percentage points; and restaurants and accommodation services, with 2.3 percent share or 0.18 percentage points.
Losare further expounded that the bottom 30% income HHs in Guimaras posted a 133.8 index, indicating that a typical low-income Guimarasnon household needs 1,338 pesos in June 2024 to purchase a basket of goods and services worth P1,000 in 2018. The value is lower than the 134.0 CPI (consumer Price Index) in May 2024 and higher than the 124.3 CPI in June 2023,” Losare said.
Based on the relative poverty concept, households whose per capita income falls below the bottom 30 percent of the cumulative per capita distribution belong to the low-income group.
Losare said, “The inflation rate for the lowest 30 percent of income households, that are particularly susceptible to economic and social challenges, was calculated to monitor their well-being.” (PSA-6)