The inflation rate for the month of November 2018, registered 0.0% – or completely unchanged. This is remarkably, the second unchanged reading of the year (with May being the first) and even more notably, only the second time in at least the last 9 years that STATIN has recorded an unchanged inflation rate for a month.
Inflation rate for the year to date now stands at 3.54% and diGJamaica projects that inflation will come in below 2017’s 5.25%.
The inflation rate for the fiscal year to date (April 2018 to March 2019) is now 4.21%, but with the prices of oil falling it is too early to tell if this will exceed last fiscal year’s inflation rate of 3.68%, although it is looking likely.
Point to point inflation (November 2017 to November 2018) is 4.08% versus last year’s figure of 4.97%.
STATIN’s official press release offered some insight into the flat inflation rate:
“This movement was influenced by a 0.3 per cent increase in the index for the division ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’. This was as a result of higher prices for vegetables, starchy foods and fruits.