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Keith Collister, Vice President of the JCC
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Keith Collister
The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) has called for the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) to make further interventions in the foreign exchange market to restore order.
On Friday, the BOJ offered millions of US dollars for sale as it sought to calm some of the jitters that have been causing the Jamaican currency to slide.
Keith Collister, Vice President of the JCC, believes there is now a lack of confidence in the currency due to its sharp movements, causingthe market to become disorderly.
"We want to BOJ to take more measures to stabilise the currency or even appreciate it slightly over the next few weeks," he urged the Central Bank.
According to Mr. Collister, another factor affecting the market is the fact that there is widespread misunderstanding that the BOJ, with the support of the IMF, has been trying to encourage the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar to raise the country's inflation rate.
He argued that such a view goes against logic, as central banks around the world are always in favour of low inflation, and Jamaica's inflation target range of four to six per cent is still higher than many of its major trading partners.
Mr. Collister believes dollar speculation is also playing a role in the slide.
"What is happening at the moment, as is natural, is that people are running, buying dollars because they're worried it's going to fall further tomorrow... So for us to stop that happening at this point, you're going to need people to cooperate and say, 'alright I'm not going to rush out and buy lots of US dollars at this time'," he suggested.
He added that JCC members and all Jamaicans must support all efforts to restore confidence in the local currency.
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