Last Wednesday (May 21), the Bank of Jamaica hosted its quarterly monetary policy presser at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, which was attended by a number of commerce bodies across the country.

Governor Richard Byles said that due to the rapidly changing policy landscape in the United States and the global economy, which has implications for Jamaica’s economic prospects, the BOJ Monetary Policy Committee has agreed to reduce the policy rate by 25 basis points from 6.00 per cent to 5.75 per cent per annum. It is also making great efforts to preserve relative stability in the foreign exchange market..

This is a prudent move given tariff retaliations by the major trading partners of the US in response to Trump’s claim that imports are destroying the American economy and that the President will be adopting an “ America First” stance to his trading policy.

This has generated higher volatility in equity and bond markets across the world and precipitated a fall in commodity prices, which in turn has stimulated a fall in consumer confidence in the United States.

Despite this turbulence on the world stage, incoming economic data on Jamaica continues to point to a stable domestic economy with inflation remaining in the four to six per cent target range. Earlier this month, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) reported that headline inflation in April 2025 was 5.3 per cent, in line with the outturn for the month.

Expectations about exchange rate depreciation have remained relatively stable. The pace of depreciation saw a mild uptick between the end of April and early May in the context of a slight increase in demand and a build-up of FX positions by authorised dealers.

The BOJ has sold US$1.1 billion via its B-FXITT facility over the 12 months to end-April 2025, compared to US$983 million over the 12 months to end April 2024.

Governor Richard Byles declared: “In assessing the near-term outlook, the MPC contemplated the implications for the Jamaican economy of the policies that have been implemented by the US administration to date and in so doing, looked at several scenarios. 

“ From this exercise, the Bank’s view is that the first-round impact of the increase in US tariffs on prices in Jamaica will not be significant.”

Our Today brings you these photos by Dennis Brown: