January 5, 2022
According to the Bank of Jamaica, the net currency issued to financial institutions (commercial banks, building societies and cambios) during the last 10 working days of December 2021 totaled $12 billion. It was noted that, “the issue for the period contributed to an overall growth of $22.5 billion or 11% in the currency stock for December 2021 relative to the previous month.” The growth was said to be “broadly in line with the Bank’s projection for growth of $23.1 billion or 11.3%.” However, in comparison to December 2020 growth rate of 12.8%, the rate of growth in currency issue for the month decreased by 1.8%.
Furthermore as at 31 December 2021, the stock of currency was $226.9 billion (see Figure), representing a year growth of 19.1%, in comparison to a twelve months growth of 28% at end-December 2020. Notably, “when the estimated change in consumer prices is considered, the estimated real annual growth in currency for the period was 10.9%, compared to 21.6% for the corresponding period in 2020. This deceleration reflects a moderation in orders relative to 2020 when there was considerable uncertainty about the effect of the pandemic,” as per The Bank of Jamaica.
BOJ expects that majority of the currency issued during December 2021 will be redeemed during January 2022. For the last five years, net currency redemption in January averaged 75.8% of the net currency issued in the preceding month.
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