KINGSTON, Jamaica--The Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) will be assessing the impact of torrential flood rains which lashed the island last week to determine whether its inflation forecast needs to be revised.
While indicating that the general target was not expected to change Governor Bryan Wynter said the Bank would be better able to determine whether the forecast range needs to be adjusted when the assessments are completed and the data is submitted.
For the 2017/18 financial year, inflation is projected within the range of four to six per cent. This outlook reflects a one-off price increase for fuel, electricity and transportation, associated with the recently announced tax measures.
In addition, consumer prices rose by 0.3 per cent in the month of April, bringing annual inflation to 4.8 per cent.
Wynter also pointed out that inflation in April partly reflected the impact of taxes on the cost of transportation and alcoholic beverages.
He noted that for the rest of the fiscal year, barring the unforeseen, the BoJ expects monthly inflation rates similar to what was seen in April.
Meanwhile, the Governor informed that the current account deficit for fiscal year 2016/17 is at 1.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is below the two per cent for the previous fiscal year. ~ Caribbean360 ~
