The Jamaican economy lost $4.5 billion of real value in the March quarter, numbers that capture just the first three weeks of virus-containment measures that were cited as the cause of the decline.
Economic output, measured as gross domestic product, or GDP, contracted 2.3 per cent in the period, and is projected to worsen in the June quarter when the fallout is expected to be about six times greater, according to documents tabled in Parliament.
The Statistical Institute of Jamaica, Statin, in its release of the latest economic and price data on Wednesday, also discussed the new inflation basket that now includes items such as hair weave, narcotics, highway toll, parties and tech gadgets.
Price movements have been slowing under the virus-containment programme instituted by the Government to stem the spread of the virus. In April, the first month measured using the new basket, inflation was estimated at 0.2 per cent. In May, the inflation rate was just 0.1 per cent, reflecting barely any price movement, on average, at a time when schools had shuttered, and businesses had been shedding jobs and implementing pay cuts, especially in the tourism sector which had a total lockdown.
May’s inflation was largely tempered by a fall in tuition fees for the summer term, down 22 per cent, amid spikes in prices of some agricultural items, such as cabbage, lettuce and potato, which increased the category of ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ by 1.1 per cent.
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