Inflation Remains Within BOJ’s Target Range

• The inflation rate for December 2020 as measured by the All Jamaica Consumer Price Index was 1.3%.
• The inflation rate for December was mainly due to increases in the index for the divisions ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’, ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ and ‘Transport’.
• For the month, the index for the division ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ increased by 2.4% mainly due to higher prices for vegetables, especially tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, and sweet pepper. However, the movement in the class was tempered by lower prices for tubers such as sweet potato and yam.
• This contributed to a fiscal-year-to-date (April 2020 – December 2020) inflation rate of 5.1% and point-to-point (December 2019 – December 2020) rate of 5.2% which was near the midpoint of the inflation target range.

(Source: Statin)