The cost of eating out is one of the main driving factors behind Jamaica’s inflation rate, says the Director General of the Statistical Insitute of Jamaica (STATIN), Carol Coy.

In Jamaica, inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks price changes for goods and services.

Jamaica’s point-to-point inflation rate for June, which compares inflation from June 2021 to June 2022, was 10.9%. May’s point-to-point inflation rate also measured 10.9%, down from April’s rate of 11.8%.  However, this is still well outside the Bank of Jamaica’s (BOJ) target range of 4-6%. 

Speaking on Taking Stock, Coy said a number of factors contributed to the overall increase in inflation, including a rise in food prices and transportation costs. 

Most notably, an increase in the restaurants and accommodation services segment of the CPI played a huge role.

“A number of, especially fast food, meals went up significantly during that period and this would have impacted the inflation rate,” she said. 

The restaurants and accommodation services segment increased by 22.4% since June 2021. 

Since the start of the pandemic, Jamaicans have been lamenting the continuous price increase in meals from popular fast food chains such as KFC, Tastee and Juici Patties.

The Director General also explained that the segment “Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages” is heavily weighted by vegetables and root crops, which are strongly impacted by weather conditions.

She noted that the availability of these crops and vegetables varies based on the weather, which will in turn reflect on the inflation rate. She said that a constant, good supply of these crops will be reflected in the CPI. 

Transport index affected by taxi fares

Meanwhile, Coy said that an increase in the “Transport” segment of the CPI, which also considers the price of fuel, was mostly impacted by an increase in taxi and bus fares over the past year.

The STATIN exec said that the agency only analyses historical data, so she would not offer any projections on the outlook for Jamaica’s inflation rate going forward. 

However, the decline is an improvement from the BOJ’s projection that inflation would peak at 12-15% in June before falling in the last half of the year. 

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