Businesses, Consumers More Confident But Wary of Rising Costs

While both business and consumer confidence have increased in the second quarter of 2025, both groups continue to be cautious because of cost of living concerns.

That’s according to the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce survey for the period presented on Tuesday.

Pollster and CEO of Market Research Services, Limited, Don Anderson, says while many Jamaicans have a positive outlook on the economy as a whole, concerns over prices put a damper on expectations.

Chevon Campbell tells us more.

As the country heads into general elections, consumers continue to show increasing confidence in the economy.

Pollster Don Anderson pointed to a peak in this metric for the second quarter of 2025 ending in June following a survey of over 600 households.

However, despite many Jamaicans believing things will get better overall for the country, they continue to fret over the cost of living.

According to the survey, nine in ten people expect prices to increase and therefore dampen their enthusiasm for the economic gains being made by the country.

It’s a similar sentiment for business operators, who also have growing confidence in the economy for the quarter.

This is up by 1.7 percentage points over the period.

Overall, the more than 100 business owners surveyed are more positive about their own circumstances.

But, much like consumers, businesses expect to be impacted by rising prices in the range of fourteen percent over the next year.