Price increases in the ‘Restaurants and Accommodation Services’ accounted for the biggest movement in the CPI
Inflation in Jamaica has climbed by 0.6 per cent last month, as indicated by the All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index (CPI), which was released yesterday by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).
This movement in the CPI, which measures changes in the general level of prices for consumer goods and services purchased by private households, was largely impacted by the 8.4 per cent increase in the index for the ‘Restaurants and Accommodation Services’ division.
The inflation rate was also impacted by a 0.6 per cent increase in the ‘Transport’ division which resulted from increased petrol prices. The heaviest weighted division ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ recorded a negligible movement during the month.
Lower prices for some agricultural produce resulted in the index for the class ‘Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses’ falling by 3.5 per cent. However, there were increases in the index for other classes in the ‘Food’ group: ‘Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals’ by 1.5 per cent, ‘Cereals and cereal products’ by 0.9 per cent and ‘Fish and Seafood’ up by 1.0 per cent.
Lower electricity rates
The rate of inflation was also tempered by the 1.5 per cent decline in the index for the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity Gas and Other Fuels’ division, due to the 4.0 per cent decline in the group ‘Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’, as a result of lower electricity rates.
The point-to-point inflation rate (January 2021 – January 2022) was 9.7 per cent. This was influenced mainly by the inflation rate for the divisions: ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ (9.9 per cent), ‘Transport’ (13.8 per cent) and ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ (10.9 per cent).
The fiscal year-to-date inflation rate was 9.2 per cent.
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