Brian Wynter, Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) - JIS photo
The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) says it sold US$158 million to the foreign exchange market on April 28 and May 20 in an effort to stem the slide in the value of the Jamaican dollar. It was the biggest intervention by the Central Bank in the market.
Speaking Thursday morning at the Central Bank's quarterly media briefing, BOJ Governor Brian Wynter, described the movement in the dollar as excessive.
According to Mr. Wynter, the pressure on the dollar was due mainly to the prospect of a large US dollar bond issued on the local capital market by a foreign financial institution.
He, however, expressed confidence that the BOJ's intervention is enough to settle the dollar.
"It is our expectation that these actions, combined with the economic conditions that I have described will restore calm to the foreign exchange market in the near future," he said.
In the meantime, the BOJ governor says he does not expect the recently announced tax plan to derail the inflation target of between 4.5 and 6.5 per cent this fiscal year.
"The tax on fuel, the $7 per litre, has a direct impact of something of the range of 0.2 percentage points added to the inflation number. But as I say, you're seeing a decline from other forces, so that's why I am hesitating to give a raw number," he delared.
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