February 10, 2020

Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) totaled US$3,094.25 million as at January 2020, reflecting a decrease of US$68.29 million relative to the US$3,162.54 million reported as at the end of December 2019 (see figure 1).

Changes in the NIR resulted from a decrease in Foreign Assets of US$70.28 million to total US$3,560.81 million compared to the US$3,631.09 million reported for December 2019. ‘Currency & Deposits’ contributed the most to the decrease in Foreign Assets. ‘Currency & Deposits’ as at January 2020 totaled US$3,007.63 million reflecting a decrease of US$74.38 million compared to US$3,082.00 million booked as at December 2019.

‘Securities’ amounted to US$324.78 million; US$5.07 million more the US$319.71 million reported in December 2019. Foreign Liabilities for January 2020 amounted to US$466.56 million compared to the US$468.55 million reported for December 2019. Liabilities to the IMF accounted for 100% of total foreign liabilities, reflecting a US$1.99 million decrease month over month from December 2019.

At its current value, the NIR is US$63.31 million more than its total of US$3,030.94 million as at the end of January 2019. The current reserve is able to support approximately 33.08 weeks of goods imports or 22.43 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 January 2020, the Country is US$0.06 million below targeted amount.

 

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