Guimaras: The province of Guimaras maintained a negative inflation rate in January at -0.6 percent, although it slightly accelerated when compared with the -1.3 percent in December 2025.

According to Philippines News Agency, Guimaras Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida Losare highlighted that the January inflation rate of Guimaras is lower than the regional and national inflation rates. She noted, "Inflation rates at the national and regional levels remained in the positive, with the Philippines at 2.0 percent and Western Visayas at 2.3 percent in January 2026."

On a year-on-year basis, Guimaras' inflation rate is significantly lower compared with the 2.7 percent in January last year. Losare attributed the uptrend in the overall inflation primarily to the faster annual increment in the indices of transport, which rose to 4.7 percent during the month, from 0.8 percent in December, contributing a 35.1 percent share to the uptrend.

The province has been maintaining a negative inflation rate since July last year. Major contributors to the accelerated inflation rate, or the rate of change in prices of goods and services, included food and non-alcoholic beverages, which recorded -4.2 percent from -4.5 percent in the previous month, and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at -0.4 percent from -1.0 percent.

Losare further detailed that of the 13 commodity groups, faster annual increases were observed in the indices of restaurants and accommodation services at 11.9 percent from 10.4 percent; health at 6.2 percent from 4.0 percent; clothing and footwear at 2.2 percent from 0.9 percent; personal care and miscellaneous goods and services at 1.5 percent from 0.9 percent; information and communication at 1.2 percent from 0.0 percent; furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance at 0.5 percent from 0.1 percent; and recreation, sport and culture at 0.7 percent from 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded slower inflation rates in January at 5.4 percent from 6.3 percent in December 2025. The education services and financial services retained their previous month's inflation rate of 0.8 percent and 0.0 percent, respectively.

Losare explained that the negative inflation rate signifies that the province has sufficient food supply and does not import from other provinces, which would otherwise increase transportation and hauling costs, impacting the movement of prices.