Jamaican motorists face a second consecutive $3.06-per-litre increase in gasoline prices from today, while diesel slips 25 cents, according to Petrojam’s latest ex-refinery schedule, effective Thursday, September 24. 

E-10 90 now costs $220.38 per litre and E-10 87 costs $212.68, each up $3.06. Automotive diesel falls 25 cents to $249.38, with ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) down the same amount to $268.58. Kerosene and butane also ease 25 cents, to $217.91 and $91.19 respectively, while propane drops $1.14 to $76.52. Marketers and retailers add their own mark-ups to these figures, so pump prices will be higher.

The back-to-back increases have added $6.12 to a litre of E-10 87 in two weeks. The grade sold at $206.56 under the September 10 schedule, and $193.13 in late June, meaning it is now about 10 per cent higher than three months ago.

Diesel shows a steeper climb. Last week’s schedule lifted automotive diesel by $10.50 to $249.63 and ULSD by the same amount to $268.83, so this week’s reduction barely dents that move. At the end of June, automotive diesel sold for $201.25 and ULSD for $217.53; both are now roughly 24 per cent higher. 

Diesel carries more weight in the economy than gasoline. It fuels freight haulage, buses and part of the island’s power generation [confirm diesel share of JPS/IPP generation], so increases pass into goods prices and electricity bills with a lag.

The moves come with inflation already well outside the central bank’s comfort zone. Annual inflation reached 7.9 per cent in August, according to STATIN, above the Bank of Jamaica’s four to six per cent target range, with food, transport and fuel-related costs cited as the main pressures. Fares have already reacted once this year: route taxi and hackney carriage fares rose 8.0 per cent effective June 2, driving a 4.3 per cent jump in the transport index that month.

The BOJ has cautioned that higher energy and transport costs could produce further second-round price increases across goods and services, and had projected inflation to stay above target through the September quarter. It has nonetheless held its policy rate at 5.50 per cent, arguing that some of the pressures are temporary. Governor Richard Byles earlier tied the outlook to Middle East hostilities that damaged oil and gas infrastructure and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

STATIN’s September consumer price data, due in mid-October [confirm release date], will capture the first of the two gasoline increases. The BOJ’s next monetary policy announcement is scheduled for this coming Monday.