Bank of Jamaica will discontinue the exchange of foreign coins that are not from the United States as of July 1.

In an advisory the central bank says it will no longer exchange coins of the Canadian Dollar (CAD), Great Britain Pound (GBP), and Euro (EUR) at its banking counter.

According to the BOJ, it has facilitated the exchange of specified foreign currency banknotes and coins for Jamaica Dollars for many years at its banking counter as “a public good”. However, in recent years it has become more challenging to render this service for non-United States Dollar (USD) foreign coins, as the value it seeks to extract in returning the coins to their respective central banks has not been realised.

“As a result, after giving value for these coins at our banking counter, the bank cannot obtain value in return,” the Bank of Jamaica states in the notice.

“In the absence of repatriation arrangements for these non-USD coins, the bank has made the decision to cease the acceptance of these foreign coins at its banking counter effective 1 July 2024. The decision to cease accepting non-USD coins is consistent with the practice of central banks in the Caribbean region that are faced with similar difficulties,” it continues.

The central bank says it regrets any inconvenience caused by this decision to discontinue the exchange of non-US dollar coins, but will continue to review the situation and keep the public advised of any further developments in this regard.

Notwithstanding, the BOJ continues to accept and exchange USD, CAD, GBP and EUR banknotes as well as USD coins, for which the counter rates are published on its website.