Remittance inflows to Jamaica continue to decline at the start of 2024 following several months of decline last year, with inflows for January 2024 amounting to US$246 million, down a relatively small 1.1 percent compared with US$248.6 in January 2023.
The decline represents the eighth consecutive month of negative inflows since June last year for the country.
Jamaica’s decline of 1.1 percent was in contrast to the growth of 3.8 percent in January last year. Total inflows last year declined by two percent to US$3.37 billion from US$3.44 billion in 2022. Inflows peaked at US$3.497 billion in 2021.
Remittance inflows to Jamaica fall
April 26, 2024 by
BOJ engineers cut in CDs interest rates
April 24, 2024 by
Interest rates on Bank of Jamaica dropped to an average of 10.6 percent at the latest CD auction on Wednesday, April 24, following an offer of $34.5 billion to the public in a competitive price auction. The previous auction of $39 5 billion attracted only $37.8 billion in bids, resulting in an average rate of 11.032 percent.
In today’s auction bids amounting to just over $55 billion were received from 399 applications but only 257 were satisfied, with rates ranging from 9 to 11 percent. The latest offer brings the total amount of 30 days CDS to $125.7 billion which is down sharply from $155 billion on April 5, this year with the averaget rate then of 11.59 percent.
On April 22 the bank offered $14 billion in a 25 month CD that attracted $29 billion in bids and resulted in an average rate of 8.93 percent and put the total amounts in two year CDs to nearly $60 billion.
Jamaica’s inflation plunges but BOJ cautious
April 16, 2024 by
The Statistical Institute of Jamaica reported negative inflation of 0.6 percent for March, for a second consecutive month and point to point inflation of 5.6 percent to the year to date and follows and negative inflation of 0.6 percent in February and negative 0.10 in January.
With most businesses having granted healthy wage increases in 2022 and 2023, this publication does not expect there to be much wage pressure on inflation this year. With the inflation rate for the first three months of the year now at negative1.3 percent, which could climb even more in April, the increases in the summer months that usually flow from farm produces is likely to wipe out the gains in the early months but that should set the stage for the point to point to continue to trend to the lower end of BOJ’s mandate of 4 to 6 percent.
Bank of Jamaica has taken note of the inflation outturn in March 2024. According to a released by the central bank, “the 12-month point-to-point inflation (March 2023 to March 2024) was 5.6 per cent, which is within the Bank’s target range. The Bank welcomes the reduction in headline inflation, which was 0.6 percentage points lower than the 6.2 per cent point-to-point inflation rate for the period February 2023 to February 2024 and also lower than our most recent forecast”.
“The Bank notes that this is the second consecutive month of decline in headline inflation, which is a positive development, and the first time that the inflation outturn was within the Bank’s target range since October 2023.”
The bank went on to state “the analysis of the inflation numbers shows that the downward movement in the Consumer Price Index, for March 2024 was largely influenced by a 1.8 per cent decline in the index for the heaviest weighted division, Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages. While the Bank had anticipated a decline for this division, the contraction was larger than expected and reflected reductions in the prices of some agricultural produce, such as tomato, yam, sweet potato, cabbage and carrot.”
“The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will continue to closely watch the inflation numbers and other incoming data over the ensuing months to assess the extent to which the current level of inflation will be sustained, before making a determination on whether to change the Bank’s monetary policy stance’ the statement concluded.
Tourism traffic slows in March
April 10, 2024 by
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Tourism traffic into Jamaica slowed in March compared with the earlier months of 2024, data for tourist arrivals and departures for Sangster and Norman Manley International airports show.
The data while not the exact outcome of stopover tourist arrivals to the country, provides a good indication of tourist traffic flows into the country.
Traffic through the Montego Bay Airport for March 2024, was up 6.4 percent, with 522,900 passengers passing through up from 491,300 handled in March 2023 data from Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico operators of both airports show.
For the first quarter of 2024, Sangster International Montego Bay Airport processed 1,457,300 passengers, a solid 7.9 percent more than the 1,351,000 passengers in the first quarter of 2023.
But Norman Manley Airport suffered a 4.6 percent decline in passenger traffic in March 2024, to 129,700 passengers from 136,000 passengers in March 2023.
For the first three months of 2024, Kingston Airport saw total passengers handled, decrease by 0.6 percent, to 392,000 in 2024 falling from 394,300 in the 2023 first quarter.
The data was taken from Tourism Analytics.com.
BOJ pumps life into J$ with high interest rates
March 25, 2024 by
Jamaica’s Central Bank is pumping a great deal of life into the Jamaican dollar, lifting the value from just under J$158 to one United States dollar in February this year, to under $155 currently and driving rates on CDS up by almost 26 percent from a year ago, as the bank moves aggressively to bend year over year inflation within the mandated 4-6 percent, from 6.20 percent to February.
Liquidity in the financial has been drained with BOJ pulling out all available liquidity. At the most recent auction of Certificate of Deposits, the bank offered $42.5 billion to the public and attracted bids amounting to $43.16 billion, resulting in an average yield for successful bids of 11.12 percent, with the rate of 13.29 percent being partial satisfied.
The total outstanding 30-day CDs now amount to $157.5 billion, in contrast, a year ago the total outstanding 30-day CDs was $81.85 billion with the average yield at that auction being 8.85 percent.
Revaluation of the Jamaican dollar is critically important in curbing inflation as it cuts the cost of imported items and, most importantly, the cost of fuel that feeds into a wide array of goods and services. These include petrol for vehicles, electricity for households and businesses and powering the water supply. Of course, it affects other imported items such as foods clothing to name just two.
Negative inflation in February
March 17, 2024 by
Point-to-point inflation in Jamaica has bent back close to the Bank of Jamaica’s target of 4-6 percent based on the February 2024 data released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, with a reading of 6.2 percent following monthly inflation plunging by 0.6 percent for the month and follows a fall of 0.10 percent in January.
The decline was influenced by the decreases in the index for the divisions ‘Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages’ (1.1 percent) and ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ (1.6 percent).
Solid gains for Jamaica’s tourist arrivals
March 7, 2024 by
Jamaica continues to see positive development in the country’s economic progress, with the critical tourism sector continuing to record solid growth in stopover arrivals in 2024 and continuing to drive foreign exchange earnings and employment in the sector.
The sector that is the country’s largest foreign exchange earner saw the point of entry on the country’s northern coastal town, Montego Bay enjoying a 7.8 percent increase in passenger traffic passing through the Sangster International Airport to 442,500 compared with 410,700 in February 2023 and is up a solid 8.7 percent to 934,500 from 859,600 passengers for the first two months of the year.
At the same time, Kingston Norman Manley Airport with 112,200 passengers passing through Jamaica’s second largest airport in February 2023, had a 1.5 percent increase in passenger traffic in 2024 to 113,800 and a similar increase in 2024 from 258,200 in 2023 to 262,100.
American Airlines inaugural first to Ocho Rios
February 24, 2024 by
Saturday marked another chapter in Jamaica’s tourism history, with American Airlines commencing its inaugural scheduled flight to Boscobel Ian Flemming International Airport, utilising an Embraer 175 aircraft.
The flight was scheduled to take off at twenty minutes after 10 o’clock, this morning but was delayed by 15 minutes due the traffic congestion in Miami but landed at 11.50 am, well ahead of the 12.20 pm scheduled landing time.
The initial plans call for twice a week flights, but with the region being a major resort in Jamaica the time saved by landing at this airport could be very appealing for tourist who would prefer to forgo the trip into Montego Bay with a near two hours drive by road to get to their destination. a flight into Ian Flemming would see less congestion at the airport making easier and faster to be processed.
Jamaica pulled US$3.37B in remittances in 2023
February 19, 2024 by
Remittance inflows to Jamaica, ended in 2023 at US$3.37 billion, down two percent compared to total inflows of US$3.44 billion in 2022, and representing the third consecutive year that remittances exceed $3 billion and the fourth since it has come close to $3 billion, in 2020 in hitting a then record high of US$2.9 billion, well above the previous high of US$2.4 billion in 2019.
Remittance inflows for December 2023 declined by 3.6 percent to US$314 million, compared with US$326 million in December 2022. The data was compiled from data released by Bank of Jamaica
Jamaica’s NIR slips in January but
February 11, 2024 by
Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) fell by US$79 million in January this year to US$4.679 billion from US$4.758 billion at the end of 2023 and is up US$703 million above US$3.976 billion at the end of 2022, but data indicates the country in a far better foreign exchange position than the previous two years.
The Bank of Jamaica NIR report, states that the reserves represent 23.6 weeks of Estimated Gross Official Reserves in weeks of Goods & Services Imports, down from 25.2 weeks in December 2022.
The decline follows the sale of $30 million to the market through the B-FXITT intervention on January 15th, $20 million on January 16th, $30 million on January 25 and US$20 million on January 26 totalling US$100 million and exceeding the reduction in the NIR in January, but the intervention seems to be on the decline since 2021. In January last year, the central bank intervened 5 times with sales of US$140 million and in January 2021 they pumped US$185.68 million into the system on six occasions.
