Date: June 10, 2019

Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) totaled US$3,074.33 million as at May 2019, reflecting an increase of US$55.25 million relative to the US$3,019.08 million reported as at the end of April 2019 (see figure 1).

Changes in the NIR resulted from an increase in Foreign Assets of US$43.17 million to total US$3,579.37 million compared to the US$3,536.20 million reported for April 2019. ‘Currency & Deposits’ contributed the most to the rise in Foreign Assets. ‘Currency & Deposits’ as at May 2019 totaled US$3,021.37 million reflecting an increase of US$86.89 million compared to US$2,934.26 million booked as at April 2019.

‘Securities’ amounted to US$322.16 million; US$21.10 million less than the US$343.26 million reported in April 2019. Foreign Liabilities for May 2019 amounted to US$505.04 million compared to the US$517.11 million reported for April 2019. Liabilities to the IMF accounted for 100% of total foreign liabilities, reflecting a US$12.08 million decrease month over month from April 2019.

At its current value, the NIR is US$101.55 million less than its total of US$3,175.88 million as at the end of May 2018. The current reserve is able to support approximately 33.27 weeks of goods imports or 22.62 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.

Following a visit by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Ms. Uma Ramakrishnan between February 25- March 8, 2019 to conduct discussions on the fifth review of the island’s financial and economic program, the IMF issued a statement citing, “strong economic fundamentals and sustained implementation of the authorities’ reform program provide the private sector with an unprecedented opportunity.”

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 May 2019, the Country is US$0.09 million below targeted amount.

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