Remember ‘Tan A Yuh Yaad’? That may be making a comeback—but this time, it’s because of fuel prices.

Energy Minister Daryl Vaz says Jamaica may need to adjust how it manages rising fuel costs as global oil prices continue to climb amid tensions involving the US, Israel and Iran.

Between March 12 and April 8, fuel prices jumped by about 49 Jamaican dollars per litre.  But consumers didn’t feel the full impact.

That’s because the Government caps weekly increases at $4.50 per litre, with Petrojam absorbing the rest.  But that cushion is getting expensive.

Vaz says Petrojam has already absorbed billions of dollars.  Continuing like this could cost over $11 billion. That’s simply not sustainable.

So now, the Government is looking at a tiered pricing system, which would allow fuel prices to move more in line with global market conditions.

In other words—price increases could become much more noticeable, much more quickly.

And that’s not all.

To manage rising demand and costs, the Government is also considering measures to reduce fuel consumption.

That could mean encouraging more remote work—or other policies to limit how much people are on the road.  Yes… similar to what we saw during COVID.

And the ripple effects are huge.

Higher fuel costs push up prices across the entire economy—transportation, manufacturing, tourism—everything.

And with the country still recovering from Hurricane Melissa, businesses could feel this even more.

So the question now is, how high can prices go before it starts to significantly change how Jamaicans live and work?

And that’s the bottom line.