Inflation plunges to 5.9% in past year

Inflation over the past twelve months plunged to 5.9 percent data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica states. The drop was occasioned by a 0.5 percent rise in inflation for September down sharply from 1.4 percent in September last year. The fall follows a jump in August to 6.8 percent from 6.6 percent to July.
If the rate for September holds or falls in October the twelve month rate will fall below 5 percent.
According to Statin, the main contributor to September’s movement was an 11.8 per cent rise in the index of the ‘Education’ division, due to higher tuition fees for private schools at the primary level. The inflation rate was also impacted by the 0.7 per cent ‘Transport’ division mainly as a result of higher petrol prices. The index for the heavily weighted ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ division went up by 0.1 percent. However, there was a 1.9 per cent decline in the index ‘Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses’ class and this tempered the overall increase of the division.