OVERVIEW
- GOJ’s fiscal outturn YTD for the 2020/21 fiscal year recorded revenues above budget by $3.6B and expenditures below budget by $2.38B as at January 31, 2021. The YTD fiscal balance was reported at negative $78.19B vs. budget of negative $84.23B.
- The BOJ policy (overnight lending) rate remained unchanged at 0.50% in February since its last reduction (from 0.75%) in August 2019.
- The Jamaican economy declined by 10.7 per cent in Q3 of 2020 when compared to the similar 2019 period. The performance for Q3 resulted from declines in the Services industries (down 13.1%) and the Goods producing industries (down by 3.5%). The economy was impacted by the novel Corona virus 2019 and the measures to contain the spread. Quarter over quarter, the economy improved by 8.3 per cent for Q3 compared to Q2.
- The JA dollar lost $2.33 against the US dollar during the month to end at US$1: J$151.9405. Over the past 12 months, the JAD has lost $14.94 or 10.91% against the USD.
- The NIR increased by US$33.37M to US$3,016.18.8M. The current level represents 36.44 weeks of goods and services imports.
- Inflation for the month of February 2021 was negative 0.1 per cent. The calendar year-to-date was negative 0.1 percent while the fiscal year-to-date was 3.3 per cent. The point-to-point rate (year over year) was 3.8 percent.
- The Jamaica Stock Exchange main index ended February at 394,528.80 points, an increase of 6,590.58 points or 1.74% over January. Year to date, the index has lost 0.27%.
- Crude oil price increased by US$9.30 or 17.82% during February to US$61.50 per barrel.
- The US economy gained 379,000 jobs in February with a rate of unemployment at 6.2 per cent at the end of February 2021. The labour market continued to reflect the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and efforts to contain it.
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