Date: April 8, 2020

Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) totaled US$3,237.67 million as at March 2020, reflecting an increase of US$106.39 million relative to the US$3,131.28 million reported as at the end of February 2020 (see figure 1).

Changes in the NIR resulted from an increase in Foreign Assets of US$91.85 million to total US$3,688.45 million compared to the US$3,596.59 million reported for February 2020. ‘Currency & Deposits’ contributed the most to the increase in Foreign Assets. ‘Currency & Deposits’ as at March 2020 totaled US$3,136.72 million reflecting an increase of US$88.34 million compared to US$3,048.39 million booked as at February 2020.

‘Securities’ amounted to US$328.38 million; US$4.91 million more than the US$323.47 million reported in February 2020. Foreign Liabilities for March 2020 amounted to US$450.78 million compared to the US$465.32 million reported for February 2020. Liabilities to the IMF accounted for 100% of total foreign liabilities, reflecting a US$14.54 million decrease month over month from February 2020.

At its current value, the NIR is US$152.84 million more than its total of US$3,084.83 million as at the end of March 2019. The current reserve is able to support approximately 34.27 weeks of goods imports or 23.22 weeks of goods and services imports.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The country came in 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 March 2020, the Country close the2019/2020 fiscal year US$0.09 million above the targeted amount.

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