Inflation is projected to remain subdued in 2021/2022 fiscal year – Minister

Presenting the 2021 budget the Minister said headline inflation rose sharply from 7.9 per cent in December 2019 to 11.4 per cent in July 2020.

“Mr Speaker, despite high expectations for global economic recovery between 2021 and 2022, output gaps are not expected to close until after 2022. Consistent with this expectation, inflation is projected to remain subdued during 2021-22. For advanced economies, inflation is projected to increase from a low of 0.7 per cent in 2020 to 1.3 per cent in 2021, and further to 1.5 per cent in 2022, in consonance with increasing prices of medical supplies and those of other commodities,” he said.

“The upward trend was mainly driven by panic-buying episodes preceding the COVID-19 partial lockdown measure, which exerted significant pressures on food prices. However, with the gradual lifting of restrictions, the food price pressures eased and headline inflation steadily declined to 10.4 per cent at end-December 2020,” He added.