2.3 Per Cent Inflation Out-Turn for September

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is reporting that the inflation rate for September 2021 was 2.3 per cent.

Director General, Carol Coy, said that the out-turn was largely due to a three per cent increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages, the heaviest weighted division in the consumer price index (CPI).

“This is the largest increase recorded for this division since the new CPI basket was introduced in April 2020,” she said, during STATIN’s digital quarterly media briefing on Wednesday (October 20).

Ms. Coy informed that the increase in the food and non-alcoholic beverages index was due mainly to a 3.1 per cent increase in the “food” group.

“The class ‘vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses’ increased by 9.9 per cent. This increase resulted from higher prices for some agricultural produce such as tomato, cabbage, carrot and sweet pepper,” she indicated.

Other notable increases recorded in the food group were for the categories fruits and nuts, up 4.3 per cent; meat and other parts of slaughtered animals, fish and seafoods, and oils and fats, up 0.9 per cent; and cereals and cereal products, up 0.6 per cent.

Also contributing was an 8.1 per cent increase in the index for the ‘Transport’ division.

Ms. Coy told journalists that this was due to the 15 per cent increase in bus, route taxi and hackney carriage fares granted by the Government, noting that “this movement was, however, tempered by lower petrol prices”.

Additionally, she said the division ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels’ increased by 0.8 per cent, largely due to increased electricity, water and sewerage rates.

Meanwhile, the ‘Education’ division moved up by 2.4 per cent, due to a rise in tuition fees at the start of the 2021/22 academic year.

“The point-to-point inflation rate (September 2020-September 2021) was 8.2 per cent. This was influenced by the point-to-point inflation rate for the divisions ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’, up 10.2 per cent, ‘Transport’, up 13 per cent, and ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels’, up 6.6 per cent,” Ms. Coy said.