Jamaica, Buoyed by Refinery, Lower Gas Prices

There’s news about a reduction in gas prices tonight, but don’t jump up and down – because it’s not in Belize. The Jamaica Gleaner reports that prices in that island nation go down by sixteen Jamaican cents effective midnight Thursday. It’s important to note that Jamaica’s gasoline is manufactured by its state-controlled oil refinery, known as Petrojam – a name familiar in the north where it once invested in the now-shuttered Libertad sugar factory. Regular unleaded gasoline will sell for one hundred and twenty-seven dollars and fifty-four cents per liter, and premium gasoline goes for one hundred and thirty dollars and thirty-seven cents. Diesel also goes down to one hundred and twenty-four dollars and sixty cents. Now that sounds like a lot, but convert to Belize dollars and a clearer picture emerges. In Belize dollars, the regular price is two dollars and five cents, compared to eleven dollars and four cents. Premium is two dollars and ten cents compared to eleven dollars and thirty-nine cents. And diesel is two dollars flat compared to ten dollars and forty-nine cents. Increases in kerosene and butane were also announced according to the Gleaner. Retailers will add their mark-ups to the announced prices.