Jamaican economy continues on a growth path; inflation dips into target range but remains a concern for the BOJ; BOJ maintains tight monetary policy stance
The EPOC met on November 17, 2023 to review the Fiscal and Monetary Quantitative Performance indicators under the Government of Jamaica’s Economic Reform Programme.
The following were key highlights noted by EPOC:
- For the second consecutive month, the inflation rate (5.1% for October 2023) has remained within the BOJ’s target range but is projected to rise above the target between December 2023 and March 2025
- For April-September 2023, Tax Revenues exceeded the Second Supplementary Estimates by $6.9B (1.8%) while total Expenditure was marginally in line with the budgeted estimates
- Jamaica records a Current Account Surplus (CAS) of US$241M, marking the first surplus in over two decades
- Net International Reserves (NIR) stood at US$4.6B at end-October 31, 2023 and remain more than adequate
- As at end-June 2023, all indicative targets and structural benchmarks under the IMF Precautionary Liquidity Line (PLL) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) have been achieved
- Real GDP was estimated to have grown by 1.9% for the July-September 2023 quarter.
