Durrant Pate/Contributor

In an Our Today follow-up, the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) has explained that the decision to suspend the exchange of domestic dollar banknotes by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) was taken to reduce costs and to prevent the possibility of criminal activities, including money laundering.

Earlier this week, the BOJ issued an interim notice advising the Jamaican public that the existing arrangement for the BOJ to repatriate T&T banknotes was currently under review.

Jamaica’s central bank also advised that as of last Monday, the exchange of T&T dollars at its banking counter was suspended until further advised. 

The BOJ has clarified that the suspension is due to the fact that the CBTT, which this currency is repatriated, has suspended the arrangements for the repatriation of T&T dollars until further advised.

CBTT response to BOJ suspension

In a response to questions from Trinidad’s Guardian Media on the issue, the CBTT stated “in this particular case the BOJ and CBTT staff considered that it would be appropriate to have the BOJ suspend its over-the-counter public exchanges of TT$. This is in line with the current CBTT practice of not engaging in such exchanges with the public, either for J$ or any other currency.” 

The CBTT explained that its counterpart central banking institutions in the Caribbean region have a long standing arrangement to redeem each other’s currency for example the CBTT will periodically send to the BOJ Jamaican dollars the CBTT may have collected over time. In turn, the BOJ will credit the CBTT’s account with the equivalent in US$. This arrangement is reciprocal and has worked well.

According to the CBTT, “the amounts collected are generally small, related to amounts that Governments may have collected from individuals and companies in court cases, embassies, some taxes etc. For the most part the central banks may make very limited over-the-counter exchanges from the public.”

The CBTT added that these and other currency arrangements were constantly being reviewed and discussed among the staffs of the banking departments of the various central banks. In conclusion the CBTT said, “this is among other things to keep up with new technological developments, streamline operations including towards reducing the costs associated with repatriating banknotes, and staving off potential avenues for money laundering and other criminal activities.”