November 8, 2021

Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) totalled US$3,868.07 million as at October 2021, reflecting a decrease of US$96.15 million relative to the US$3,964.22 million reported at the end of September 2021 (see figure 1).

Foreign Assets totalled US$4,740.51 million, US$94.47 million less than the US$4,834.98 million reported for September 2021. ‘Currency & Deposits’ contributed the most to the decrease in Foreign Assets. ‘Currency & Deposits’ as at October 2021 totalled US$3,651.02 million reflecting a decrease of US$136.54 million compared to US$3,787.56 million booked as at September 2021.

‘Securities’ amounted to US$347.33 million; US$13.96 million more than the US$333.37million reported at September 2021. While ‘SDR & IMF Reserve Position’ amounted to US$742.16 million; US$28.11 million more than the US$714.05 million reported at September 2021. Liabilities to the IMF accounted for 100% of total Foreign Liabilities; this amounted to US$872.44 million which reflected a month on month increase of US$1.67 million in comparison to the US$870.77 million recorded for September 2021.

At its current value, the NIR is US$974.07 billion more than its total of US$2,893.31million reported at the end of October 2020. The current reserve is able to support approximately 45.70 weeks of goods imports and 32.62 weeks of goods and services imports.