Guimaras: Inflation rate in Guimaras slowed down to 4.6 percent in July from 5.1 percent in June, lower compared with the 6.2 percent national inflation and 7.8 percent in Western Visayas. The slower inflation rate brought the year-on-year inflation in the province to 2.9 percent.
According to Philippines News Agency, Philippine Statistics Authority Guimaras supervising statistical specialist Vicente Geonanga, in a virtual presentation on Thursday, said the slower inflation rate indicates that "while prices continued to increase, they did so at a slower pace compared with the previous month." Guimaras is the only province in Western Visayas that posted a slower growth, although it only came second to the 4.1 percent inflation of Capiz, which accelerated from 3.9 percent in June.
"This suggests that some commodities experienced more stable supply conditions or slower price adjustments in Guimaras relative to other provinces in Western Visayas, where inflation generally accelerated," Geonanga said. He clarified that the slower inflation does not imply lower prices, but rather that prices are still increasing, albeit not as rapidly as before.
For the people of Guimaras, this would mean a slower increase in prices of some goods, especially in food and transportation, Geonanga noted. Since it is still positive inflation, it means prices of commodities still increase compared with last year. He explained that while food inflation slowed, some essential commodities such as rice continued to record higher inflation. Therefore, households may still feel pressure on their budgets, especially those with limited income. The good news is that the pace of price increases in Guimaras was relatively lower than in most areas of the region during July 2026.
The downtrend in the overall inflation was primarily influenced by the slower annual increment in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages at 3.6 percent during the month, from 4.2 percent. Also contributing to the slower growth is the sluggish annual price change of transport at 22.0 percent from 21.9 percent in the previous month, and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services at 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent in June.
Meanwhile, several commodity groups recorded faster inflation in July 2026 compared with the previous month. Inflation for alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased to 7.0 percent from 6.5 percent; clothing and footwear up to 3.8 percent from 3.7 percent; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels accelerated to 1.0 percent from 0.9 percent; and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance moved to 1.5 percent from 1.4 percent in June. Two commodities retained their previous month's inflation rate, including health at 5.4 percent; information and communication at 1.8 percent; recreation, sport and culture, -1.1 percent; education services, 2.0 percent; restaurants and accommodation services, 2.6 percent and financial services, 0.0 percent.
