Jamaica: Inflation is down from 12% to 5.6% in three years, says PM Holness

Jamaica: Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in a recent conference, announced that his administration has been able to reduce inflation from nearly 12 percent to around 5.6 percent in the last three years.

He said that the government is still working to lower it further to provide citizens with a minimum cost of living.

While talking about the same, he said that cost of living is a subject which is on mind of people across the world which is why his administration is putting all measures in place that will cushion the pressures on the Jamaicans.

Also, he encouraged people to increase productivity by working smarter, not necessarily harder because this is the best way to fight inflation.

“All of you here would have been going through a very difficult time because of the cost of living. Cost of living is a challenge not just in Jamaica but globally,” he added.

The Prime Minister further mentioned that when he travel, the same things that are said in Jamaica, he hear them in other jurisdictions. “I was in Canada last year. I heard people complaining about the cost of living in the United States. It was the same thing when I visited the United Kingdom. It’s the same complaint,” he noted.

While citing reasons behind the same, Holness remarked due to COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and other global disruptions, world prices for global shipping and other logistics costs have increased significantly.

He further outlined, “But over the last three years, your government has managed inflation coming now from almost 12% inflation.” That is when people used to send him texts showing him what the price of oxtail was the week before and what the price of oxtail was this week, sometimes moving by 100 or $200.

At present, inflation has come down from the high of about 12 percent to now about 5.6% and this means means that inflation is now back within the target range, meaning the range that the policy says it is acceptable to fluctuate between 4% and 6%.

The government has also been very careful not to make the increases too high, but at the same time to increase subsidies to cushion the impact of price increases.

This shows Holness’ approach to make living in the small island nation easy for not only the citizens but also the visitors.