Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is reporting that, despite some hiccups, Jamaica’s foreign exchange (FX) rate exhibited relative stability in 2025.

The BOJ says the FX market remained relatively stable throughout 2025, with the local currency depreciating on an annual average basis by 1.7 per cent against the ‘greenback’ compared to 1.4 per cent for 2024.  

In its 2025 Annual Report, which was recently tabled in parliament, the BOJ says, “This relative stability occurred in a context of the bank’s continued actions to moderate excess volatility in the exchange rate as a part of its strategy to lower inflation expectations and contain inflation firmly within its target range. This was also supported by the continued sustainability of Jamaica’s external accounts, which was manifested in an estimated current account surplus for the year.”

Adequate inflows from tourism and remittances

The FX market stability was supported by adequate inflows from tourism and remittances, as well as measures implemented by the Bank to attenuate episodic demand pressures. The Central Bank provided approximately US$1.2 billion to the system through its BOJ Foreign Exchange Intervention and Trading Tool (B-FXITT) sale operations and direct sales to key entities.

Of note, the BOJ purchased approximately US$2.2 billion from the system via surrenders from Authorised Dealers and cambios. Following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, the bank introduced special preemptive measures to preserve relative stability in the FX market.  

These measures took into consideration the extraordinary demand for foreign exchange to finance increased imports made necessary by the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. Consequently, the BOJ sold US$250 million into the market for the period November to December 2025. 

Additionally, selected players in the energy sector were directly supplied with foreign exchange to remove large purchases from the market. The central bank also reintroduced scheduled advanced notices of intervention sales in order to assure the market of adequate foreign currency liquidity.