Consumers were faced with a 2.2 per cent increase in the prices of meals purchased at fast food restaurants and cookshops in January, representing price movements in the ‘restaurant and accommodation services’ division.

This is according to the All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January that was released this week by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).

There was also a 1.8 per cent increase in the ‘education’ division which STATIN attributes to increases in tuition fees charged by private institutions at the primary level.

Despite the increases, the CPI for January fell by 0.3 per cent. The decline was mainly influenced by a 1.3 per cent fall in the index of the ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ division and a 0.3 per cent fall in the index of the ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ division.

The decline in the ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ division was influenced mainly by a fall of 7.4 per cent in the index for the class ‘vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses’, which resulted from lower prices for produce such as tomato, sweet pepper, carrot and yam. This resulted in the ‘food’ group declining by 1.4 per cent.

STATIN said the 0.3 per cent reduction in the index for the ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ division was largely influenced by a 1.4 per cent fall in the index of the group ‘electricity, gas and other fuels’ driven by lower electricity rates.

STATIN said the point-to-point inflation rate (January 2024 – January 2025) was 4.7 per cent. This was influenced mainly by the point-to-point inflation rate for the divisions: ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ (7.4 per cent), ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ (two per cent) and ‘restaurants and accommodation services’ (6.2 per cent).

The downward movement in the CPI for January was tempered by the increases in the education and restaurant and accommodation services division.