January 08, 2020

Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) totaled US$3,162.53 million as at December 2019, reflecting an increase of US$56.67 million relative to the US$3,105.87 million reported as at the end of November 2019 (see figure 1).

Changes in the NIR resulted from an increase in Foreign Assets of US$49.25 million to total US$3,631.09 million compared to the US$3,581.84 million reported for November 2019. ‘Currency & Deposits’ contributed the most to the increase in Foreign Assets. ‘Currency & Deposits’ as at December 2019 totaled US$3,082.00 million reflecting an increase of US$46.64 million compared to US$3,035.36 million booked as at November 2019.

‘Securities’ amounted to US$319.71 million; US$0.96 million more the US$318.75 million reported in November 2019. Foreign Liabilities for December 2019 amounted to US$468.55 million compared to the US$475.97 million reported for November 2019. Liabilities to the IMF accounted for 100% of total foreign liabilities, reflecting a US$7.42 million decrease month over month from November 2019.

At its current value, the NIR is US$157.12 million more than its total of US$3,005.41 million as at the end of December 2018. The current reserve is able to support approximately 33.80 weeks of goods imports or 22.94 weeks of goods and services imports.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The country came in slightly below the benchmark of US$3.22 billion outlined by the International Monetary Fund for March 2019, closing the fiscal year at US$3.08 billion, US$0.13 million below targeted amount.

Notably, on November 07, 2019, Jamaica has successfully concluded its economic reform program, which was supported by a US$1.66 billion Stand-By Arrangement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Net International Reserve (NIR) target outlined as per the new agreement for the 2019/20 fiscal year is US$3.155 billion (see figure 2 above). As at December 2019, the Country is US$0.01 million above targeted amount.

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