Economic Highlights
Brent Oil Brent oil prices increased by 1.28% or US$0.85, as prices increased this week relative to the prior week. Oil traded on March 14, 2019 at a price of US$67.15 per barrel relative to US$66.30 on March 7th, 2019. Brent oil began the year at US$54.91 per barrel. Petrojam prices 87 Octane prices decreased
United States: U.S. Core Inflation Unexpectedly Cools on Autos, Drug Prices A key measure of underlying U.S. inflation unexpectedly eased in February amid falling prices for autos and prescription drugs, giving the Federal Reserve more room to stick to its plan for being patient on raising interest rates. Excluding food and energy, the so-called core
United States: U.S. Retail Sales Rise in January, Stabilizing After a Slump U.S. retail sales stabilized in January after a plunge the prior month that was larger than first reported, indicating consumers may still be able to help support growth after a dismal end to 2018. The value of overall sales rose 0.2 percent after
Date: March 8, 2019 Net International Reserves- February 2019 Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) totaled US$3,007.49 million as at February 2019, reflecting a decrease of US$23.46 million relative to the US$3,030.94 million reported as at the end of January 2019 (see figure 1). Changes in the NIR resulted from a decrease in Foreign Assets of US$24.49
Date: March 8, 2019 Jamaica Broilers Group (JBG) for the nine months ended January 31, 2019 reported total revenues of $40.27 billion, a 13% increase relative to $35.68 billion reported in for the comparable period in 2018. Revenue for the third quarter amounted to $14.55 billion, a 15% increase compared to $12.66 billion booked for the
United States: Deal or No Deal, Trump’s Trade War With China Has Scarred the Global Economy A deal between the U.S. and China to drop tariffs couldn’t come soon enough for a global economy already showing strains from the trade war. Economists predicted that eye-for-an-eye tariffs by the U.S. and China could eat into world
Brent Oil Brent oil prices increased by 0.64% or US$0.42, as prices increased this week relative to the prior week. Oil traded on March 7, 2019 at a price of US$66.45 per barrel relative to US$66.03 on February 28th, 2019. Brent oil began the year at US$54.91 per barrel. Petrojam prices 87 Octane prices decreased
United States: U.S. Trade Gap Surged to $621 Billion in 2018, 10-Year High The U.S. trade deficit widened in 2018 to a 10-year high of $621 billion, bucking President Donald Trump’s pledges to reduce it, as tax cuts boosted domestic demand for imports while the strong dollar and retaliatory tariffs weighed on exports. The annual
Date: March 05, 2019 For the period of April 2018 to January 2019, the GOJ reported Total Revenues & Grants of $496.55 billion, $3.79 billion more than the Government’s projection. Year over year, this represents an increase of approximately 14.2% relative to the $434.88 billion recorded for the corresponding period in 2017. ‘Tax Revenue’ outperformed
United States: Trump's Trade Step Shows U.S. Can Hit Turkey Where It Hurts President Donald Trump’s decision to strip some Turkish exporters of their preferential trade status is taken from a playbook that’s been effective in the past. American officials are pressing Ankara to abandon its longstanding agreement to buy a Russian air defense system.
