Prime Minister Bruce Golding says the country's Central Bank has moved decisively to prevent the rapid appreciation of the Jamaican dollar against the US currency.
Mr. Golding disclosed on Sunday that the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has been flexing its economic powers to maintain stability in the foreign exchange market by purchasing excess US dollars in the market.
The Prime Minister says this is necessary to prevent the Jamaican dollar from revaluing too quickly.
“And if the bank didn't do that the dollar would have reached $84 or $83 by now and…said to me ‘why are you interfering with it? If it wants to go to $70 let it run’. We cannot do that because if we do that it is going to hurt the export sector and the tourism sector because they earn their income in US dollars,”
“When they convert those US dollars to Jamaican dollars and get less Jamaican dollars they are not going to be able to pay their workers, they are not going to be able to pay their bills. So we have to watch it carefully,” Mr. Golding said.
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