Hurricane Beryl’s impact pushes inflation to 2.4% in August

Hurricane Beryl has triggered a sharp rise in Jamaica’s inflation rate, pushing it to 2.4% in August 2024. The disruption in agricultural supply chains caused by the hurricane resulted in the highest monthly increase in food prices since early 2020.

The All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks changes in the cost of a standard basket of goods and services, jumped from 137.5 in July to 140.7 in August. This was largely driven by a 4.1% rise in the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ category. Within this group, food prices surged by 4.3%, with items such as vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses seeing a dramatic 15.5% hike, primarily due to supply shortages caused by the hurricane’s impact.

In addition to food, the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels’ category also saw a notable 3.7% increase, driven by a 10.6% rise in electricity rates, making it the second-largest contributor to the inflation surge. Meanwhile, the ‘Transport’ category experienced a slight 0.2% decline, thanks to a drop in petrol prices.

For the year to date, inflation has reached 2.9%. On an annual basis, inflation from August 2023 to August 2024 hit 6.5%, marking a 1.4 percentage point rise compared to July. This increase was largely fueled by higher costs in the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’, ‘Transport’, and ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels’ categories.

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