I have to repost this article from fellow blogger Dennis Jones, a retired economist living in Jamaica, partly because my knowledge and understanding of inflation and interest rates is pathetically low. What I do know is that, having been doing our grocery shopping over the past few weeks, I am getting almost continuous “sticker shock” at the rising prices. This interview was also published in the Jamaica Observer, but I think you might find it of interest.
I’m chilling with my family in Southern California, but got a message to offer some comments on the US Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate announcement. They were used for the article below, published in today’s Jamaica Observer:
WHEN the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) monetary policy committee releases its policy interest rate decision on March 29, the stance it has taken by hiking rates in September last year for the first time since December 2008, and three other times after, is not expected to change.
Not even a rate hike in the US, which economists forecast will slow economic growth in that country — especially with the Federal Reserve signalling it could raise rates another six times to 2.8 per cent — will affect what the BOJ will do, especially with Tuesday’s revelation that inflation reached 10.7 per cent in February, its highest point-to-point level since December 2010.
Dennis Jones…
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