Lower inflation is desirable, but is difficult to achieve in the near term, due to limited competition in Jamaica’s banking sector, among other things. 

Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor, Richard Byles made the statement at the Central Banks’ quarterly monetary press conference, this morning. 

He was commenting on the bank’s inflation target amid continuous criticism that Jamaicans continue to be impacted negatively, by high inflation. 

Mr. Byles noted that while it is desirable to lower the inflation rate, there are several factors which hinder this. 

As at April this year, Jamaica’s headline inflation rate was 5.3 per cent, which was within the bank’s target of 4.0 to 6.0 per cent and 0.3 percentage point lower than the rate recorded at March 2024.

However, the Central Bank said, the reported decline will be interrupted temporarily, as inflation is projected to breach the upper end of the target range, towards the end of the June 2024 quarter.