Local Point-to-Point Inflation increases to 10.3% for November  

 

• For November 2022, the All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.4%. Furthermore, November’s point-to-point inflation of 10.3% showed an uptick relative to October’s point-to-point inflation figure of 9.9%.
• For November, the rise in monthly inflation was largely driven by the 2% increase in the heavily weighted ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ division. All classes within the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ division increased for the review period with the main contributor being ‘Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses’ which rose by 6.5%. This was due to higher prices for agricultural produce such as sweet potato, tomato, cabbage and sweet pepper
• Though there was an uptick in the point-to-point outturn in November, the current rate of 10.3% is keeping with expectations, as the BOJ noted that inflation was projected to stabilize in the range of 9.0% to 11.0% for the remainder of 2022. 
• On December 20, 2022, the BOJ will have its monetary policy meeting, however, at its last meeting, it was deemed appropriate to pause further policy rate increases and watch the previous rate hikes pass through to deposit and loan rates. Consequently, despite the slight increase in point-to-point, we expect the BOJ to maintain its policy rate at 7.00%.  

(Source: STATIN and NCBCM Research)