Falling food prices in Jamaica triggers 0.8% decline in January’s inflation out-turn
/ Our Today
administrator
Durrant Pate/ Contributor
Declining food prices as agriculture recovers from Hurricane Melissa led to a 0.8% decline in Jamaica’s inflation outturn for the first month of the year.
The decline in the All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, was led by the division, ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’, which contracted by 2.6 %.
This movement was due primarily to a 9.9 % fall in the index for the sub-class, ‘Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses’ and an 8.4 % decline in the index of the ‘Ready-made food products’ class.
These decreases were attributable to the decline in the prices of some agricultural produce, including cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, escallion, sweet peppers and tomatoes, due to increased supply of local agricultural products.
The movement in the CPI was moderated by a 0.7 % increase in the index for the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ division. This was due to higher water supply and sewage rates. Additionally, the index of the ‘Education’ division rose by 1.0 % due to increased preparatory school fees.
The point-to-point inflation rate (January 2025 – January 2026) was 3.9 %. This was influenced mainly by the point-to-point inflation rate for the divisions: ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ (5.7%), ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ (4.6%) and ‘Personal Care, Social Protection and Miscellaneous Goods and Services’ (4.1%).
The CPI measures changes in the general level of prices for consumer goods and services purchased by private households.
Comments