The Jamaican dollar appreciated slightly last week, as a result of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) intervening in the foreign exchange (FX) market.

The local currency appreciated by 0.35 per cent relative to the USD, week over week with the ‘greenback’ selling rate moving from J$153.85 to J$153.31 last week.

This appreciation was driven primarily by the intervention of the Bank of Jamaica in the market with US$60 million two times last week, US$40 million in the first instance and US$20 million in the second instance.

There were only minor weekly fluctuations in the USD money market. Liquidity has been steady with most brokers generally willing to accept long term money. Rates were stable.

With the BOJ intervening in the market last week selling US$60 million via its B-FXITT tool, a total of J$9.2 billion was taken out of the market, which fueled the minor appreciation of the Jamaican dollar.