Durrant Pate/ Contributor

Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) remain at historically strong levels despite a weakened external position following the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which is the most expensive hurricane in Jamaica’s history, with damage estimated at over US$8.8 billion, amounting to 41% of the island’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor Richard Byles is reporting that the country’s reserves stood at approximately US$6.3 billion in mid-December 2025, representing about 151 per cent of the adequacy benchmark. The NIR represents foreign-currency assets held by the central bank to pay for imports, stabilise the exchange rate and cushion the economy against shocks. 

Speaking at the BOJ’s Quarterly Monetary Policy Report press conference in downtown Kingston last week, Byles said the reserve position is expected to be further supported by disaster risk financing, multilateral funding and grant inflows, including proceeds from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility and Jamaica’s catastrophe bond. Meanwhile, the central bank has intensified its interventions to maintain stability in the foreign exchange market since the passage of Hurricane Melissa, with the BOJ Governor explaining that the central bank has since injected US$250 million into the market, including the direct supply of foreign exchange to selected energy-sector players to remove large, irregular purchases from open trading.

In addition, the BOJ has reinstated advance notices of foreign exchange intervention sales, a move Byles said helps improve market expectations around liquidity.

As a result, the exchange rate remained broadly stable between November 1 and mid-December, relative to end-October levels. Over the 12 months to the end of November 2025, the BOJ sold approximately US$1.1 billion through its B-FXITT facility, broadly in line with sales over the previous year.

During the same period, net foreign exchange purchases totalled about US$1 billion. Looking ahead, Byles said the central bank will continue to act proactively to ensure orderly market conditions, noting that foreign exchange instability can quickly feed through to higher prices across the economy.