OVERVIEW

  • GOJ’s fiscal outturn YTD for the 2021/22 fiscal year recorded revenues above budget by $17.26B and
    expenditures underbudget by $7.33B as at July 31, 2021. The YTD fiscal balance was reported at negative
    $4.31B vs. budget of negative $28.9B.
  • The BOJ policy (overnight lending) rate remained unchanged at 0.50% in August 2021. However, the
    Central Bank hinted at an increase at the next policy decision announcement that is set for September 30,
    2021, in an attempt at moderating inflation.
  • The JA dollar appreciated by $2.50 against the US dollar during the month to end at US$1: J$152.09. Over
    the past 12 months, the JAD has slid $2.80 or 1.88% against the USD.
  • The NIR increased by US$529M or 15.75% to US$3,888.7M. The current level represents 32.92 weeks of
    goods and services imports and 144.84 percentage of ARA Metric. The increase in the reserves is
    attributable to the US$500M special drawing rights facility obtained from the IMF by the Government.
  • Inflation for the month of August 2021 increased by 0.90 per cent. The calendar year-to-date was 4.70 per
    cent while the point-to-point rate (year over year) was 6.1 per cent. The point-to-point rate has breached
    the BOJ’s targeted inflation range of 4%-6%.
  • The Jamaica Stock Exchange main index ended August at 417,864.91, a decrease of 6,270.10 points or
  • 1.48% over July. Year to date, the index has advanced 5.62%.
  • Crude oil price decreased by US$5.45 or 7.37% during August to US$68.50 per barrel.
  • US unemployment rate declined by 0.2% to 5.2% as nonfarm payroll jobs reported by the US Labor Department for August 2021 totalled 235,000. Notable job gains were recorded in the professional and business services sector (namely architectural and engineering services, computer systems designs and scientific research and development services) which accounted for 74,000 of the jobs added. The area of transportation and warehousing was responsible for 53,000 jobs as the demand for couriers and warehousing storage increased. Other sectors experiencing significant gains included manufacturing (+37,000), and private education (+40,000).

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