Central bank researchers call for closer watch on food shocks

BANK of Jamaica (BOJ) researchers are proposing a new system for tracking international commodity threats and closer monitoring of global food prices, arguing that Jamaica’s monetary policy machinery should distinguish between food, oil and other external price shocks rather than responding to them in the same way.

Among the recommendations contained in a new BOJ working paper is the creation of a Commodity Threat Matrix to track major commodity groups separately and assess how strongly, and for how long, movements in international prices are likely to affect Jamaica.

The researchers are also proposing closer collaboration among the BOJ, Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin) and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining to improve monitoring of how global food-price movements are passed through to consumers locally.