Jamaica’s inflation problem has shifted from transport costs to drought-hit food prices, Minister of Finance and the Public Service Fayval Williams said on Wednesday, as she argued that the economy has weathered Hurricane Melissa better than expected.
“So I’m going to speak about inflation because it’s important to speak about it. The story changed twice,” Williams told a post-Cabinet briefing. “After a Category 5 hurricane, you’d expect food prices to run away from you. They did not.”
Headline inflation reached 6.7 per cent in June, 7.5 per cent in July, and 7.9 per cent in August, above the Bank of Jamaica’s target range of 4.0 to 6.0 per cent. Williams attributed the July figure largely to transport, and in turn to higher global oil prices. That has now changed, she said.
