Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jamaica continues to keep inflation in check, as the All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February 2025 declined by 0.9 per cent.

The CPI measures changes in the general level of prices for consumer goods and services purchased by private households. The point-to-point inflation rate (February 2024 – February 2025) was 4.4 per cent; which is 0.3 percentage points lower than the 4.7% recorded between January 2024 and January 2025.  

This was influenced mainly by the point-to-point inflation rate for the divisions ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ (6.5%), ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ (3.5%) and ‘Restaurants and Accommodation Services’ (6.2%). 

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), which measures Jamaica’s inflation says the 0.9% decline was mainly attributed to a 2.0 per cent fall in the index for the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ division and a 0.2 per cent decrease in the index for the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ division. 

The decline in the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ division was primarily due to an 8.8 per cent fall in the index of the ‘Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses’ class as a result of lower prices for some agricultural produce such as cabbages, carrots, escallion, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and yam.

There was a  0.2 per cent decline in the index for the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ division, which was largely influenced by a 1.0 per cent fall in the index for the group ‘Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ due to lower electricity rates.