Despite a revised basket of commodities, Jamaicans continue to spend a lot of their money on ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’, which remains the most weighted division in a basket of other goods used in determining the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

“When looking at the weights, the largest division continues to be ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ and there is a slight decline in its weight compared to that of the previous survey. Its weight in the current survey is 35.8 per cent while in the old CPI it was 37.5 per cent,” said Carol Coy, director general of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) while speaking at a digital press briefing on Wednesday.

For the month of May, STATIN had said that inflation rose to 0.1 per cent largely due to the 1.1 per cent increase in the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages division.

Coy said that weights are assigned to each division based on a percentage share of its expenditure to the total expenditure.

“The second-largest division continues to be housing, water, electricity and gas, in this new CPI its weight is now 17.5 per cent and this is an increase from 12.8 per cent in the previous basket. The third-largest division is transport—its weight is now 11 per cent down from 12.8 per cent.”

The director general said that as at April of this year, a new series of CPI was compiled using data obtained from the 2017 Household Expenditure Survey, a decade since the last revision of the goods in the basket, currently comprising over 300 commodities.

Coy further said that the need to revise the basket of goods was undertaken with a view to identify new commodities that have entered or left the market and also in keeping with the changing consumption patterns and lifestyle of citizens.

“Other items added to the basket includes technology products such as tablets. We have seen also where the consumption patterns of Jamaican households have changed with regards to healthier food options. We are also seeing where entertainment and recreation is becoming more important, previously this division had a weight of 3. 4 per cent and its now at five per cent. We are seeing where a number of recreational items such as parties and attractions have been added to the basket.

“We have also seen an increase in the eating of meals away from home with a shift from 6.2 per cent to 6.7 per cent. There are a number of shifts in the basket,” added deputy director general of STATIN, Leesha Delatie-Budair.