The inflation continues to moderate at a rapid pace, with the latest report out of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica reflecting a fall of 0.7 percent for April, following the decline in March 2024 of 0.5 percent bringing the year over year inflation to around 4.8 percent from 5.6 percent in March, still within the BOJ target of 4-6 percent but to the lower end of the target.
The 2024 calendar year inflation is now negative 1.9 percent and seems set to push inflation to zero by the end of summer after the months when inflation tends to rise above norms.
According to Statin, downward movement in the CPI for April was due mainly to a 2.3 per cent decline in the index for the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ division as a result of lower electricity, water and sewage rates. Also contributing to the fall in the inflation rate was a 0.6 per cent fall in the index for the division, ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’.
Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) based there focus wrongly on past inflation rather than currently what is happening is placing the country into dire straits as month by month inflation has cooled from several months ago and deflation is what appears to be taking place now.