The administration of Prime Minister Andrew Holness is signalling that the rising cost of crude oil, which powers a lion’s share of the Jamaican economy, is a major concern.

For his part, Robert Nesta Morgan, minister without portfolio with responsibility for Information in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), bemoaned the volatility of the global oil market.

“One of the biggest concerns of primarily the prime minister, members of the Cabinet as well as the Ministry of Finance is the rising [oil] prices within the world, which is contributing to rising prices in Jamaica,” Morgan told journalists at Wednesday’s (February 9) post-Cabinet press briefing.

“If you look at the global oil market, I think oil is now at approximately US$90 per barrel; a few months ago it was under $60 per barrel—so there are many factors operating on the local economy and causing inflation to drive [up costs],” he added.

Acknowledging that Jamaica, as an island, does not produce its own hydrocarbons, Morgan was mum, however, on any attempts to cushion Jamaican consumers against the worrying spike in petrol prices islandwide.

The minister also failed to indicate whether the Government would intervene in the State-operated refinery Petrojam’s pricing mechanism, which places a mark-up on all the oil it imports before selling to aggregated retailers.

“The global trade system has been disrupted and there are other associated costs and speculations within the global market, which has led to an increase in oil prices generally,” Morgan said.

Many Jamaican motorists have been using social media to appeal to the Holness-led Government to temporarily reduce or abolish the ‘gas tax’ on petrol.

Nearly seven years ago, under the Portia Simpson administration, the Government instituted a hedge against an increase in petroleum prices on the world market. Announced by then Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips as an ‘insurance policy’, the Government also imposed a $7 per litre tax on petrol, effective March 13, 2015.

According to Morgan, while there are several revenue measures associated with petroleum, Jamaica does not have any “homogenous gas tax on petroleum”.

“As it relates to taxation of commodities, I think that’s a conversation we’re going to have with the Ministry of Finance as the ministry is where tax policy is executed,” the minister explained.

“What I want to offer this morning is that the Government is acutely concerned about the increasing prices globally, which is having an impact on prices locally,” Morgan asserted further.

Looking over the past few weeks, Morgan argued that Holness, Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke and Agriculture Minister Pearnel Charles Jr have all criticised cost increases for domestic chicken, banking fees and a possible spike in food prices, as rural farmers in St Mary and St Ann still try to recover from recent flooding episodes.

Morgan assured that in the corridors of Government, and the highest level, led by Holness himself, the impact is “being discussed and there are constant discussions about what to do to assist local consumers to deal with what is, to some extent, an unprecedented period in our global markets”.