BOJ Overnight rate drops to 5.75%

May 20, 2025 by
The Bank of Jamaica will cut the overnight rate effective 21 May 2025 to 5.75 percent. The decision took place at their Monetary Policy Committee meeting, which ended today.

Following their assessment, the MPC unanimously agreed to reduce the policy rate (the rate offered to deposit-taking institutions on overnight placements with the Bank of Jamaica by 25 basis points from 6 percent to 5.75 per cent per annum.

The central bank had telegraphed the reduction for April with bot CD and Treasury bill rates falling well below 6 percent, with the amount of 30 days CDs falling under $90 billion from as much as $160 billion last year March.

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More decline in Jamaican interest rates

January 29, 2025 by
At the most recent Bank of Jamaica auction for Certificate of Deposits (CDS) on Wednesday, interest rates averaged 5.99 percent, following an offer of $39 billion, the average rate is fractionally lower than the Central Bank’s Overnight (ON) rate of 6 percent, a signal that the BOJ will cut it ON rate when they meet in February.

A total of 326 bids were received by the central bank amounting to $62.42 billion, with rates ranging from 7.98 percent down to 5.5 percent. The highest submitted bid had a rate of 7.90 percent, but the highest rate obtained by successful investors was 6.2 percent. Today’s rate is up from 5.94 percent at last week’s auction when only $6.5 billion was offered, with bids of just over $32 billion.

At the end of the auction the total amount of 30 days CDs that are outstanding amounts to $126.5 billion and is down from $129.5 billion last week.  

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BOJ CD rates inched higher

June 5, 2024 by

Rates on Bank of Jamaica certificate of deposits (CDs) closed higher to end at an average of 10.02 percent in Wednesday’s public auction of $37 billion.

The highest rate cleared at 10.325 percent which was only partially filled with 334 successful bids out of a total of 373 covering $444.283 billion that the central bank received for the auction.

Today’s average rate was slightly above the 9.98 percent in last week’s auction. This week’s auction will result in the total amount of 30 days CD’s that the Bank of Jamaica holds falling to $125.5 billion from $128.5 billion in the previous week.

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Mixed interest rate movements

June 12, 2023 by

Rates ended mixed on the latest issues of Government of Jamaica Treasury bills issued on Friday, June 9, following the auction of the two issues on Wednesday for $1.4 billion.
The 91 days issue for $700 million that matures in September this year resulted in an average yield of 7.86327 percent and the 182 days instrument has an average yield of 7.88671 percent.
The yield on the 182 days instrument is the lowest since August 2022 when it averaged 7.86, while the 91 days T-bill inched up from 7.82 percent in May but matched the rate in November last year and came against a background when the previous Bank of Jamaica CD average rate jumped to 9.30 percent, with only $21.36 billion going after the $22 billion the central bank offered.
The amounts of Treasury Bills applied for was $2.3 billion for the shorter term instrument and $3.06 billion for the other.

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Treasury bill rates dip under 8%

May 12, 2023 by

Rates on Government of Jamaica Treasury bills hit their lowest level since November 2022 in this week’s auction for $2.2 billion in three tranches, due to mature in August and November this year and February 2024, resulting in rates on all three dipping under 8 percent.
The three months bill fell to 7.823 percent at this week’s auction, the lowest since November 2022, when the average rate came in at 7.96 percent. The six months instrument’s previous low of 7.96 percent in September last year came in at 7.975 percent at the recent auction and is also down from 8.32 percent in April this year. The nine months rate of 8.2 percent in July last year and 8.36 percent in April this year fell to 7.999 percent this week.
The auction saw $8.9 billion going after the three issues on the same day that $27 billion, when after the CDs that Bank of Jamaica offered, resulted in CDs rate falling under 8 percent.

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BOJ CD rate dips under 8%

May 10, 2023 by

BOJ CD rates dipped under 8 percent for the first time since October 2022, data out of the Bank of Jamaica shows.
The Central Bank’s offer of $20 billion to the public attracted $27 billion from 216 bids in going after the amount offered with rates ranging from 7.15 percent to a high of 10.10 percent, with the highest successful rate coming in at 8.16 percent.
The average rate for accepted bids is 7.97 percent from 173 successful bids and represents the eighth consecutive fall after peaking at 10.54 percent in early March. The auction will result in the total amount of 30 days CDs standing at $104 billion, up from $101 billion previously.

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BOJ CD rate lowest since October

May 3, 2023 by

At the latest auction of the Bank of Jamaica Fixed Rate Certificate of Deposit held on Wednesday the average interest rate declined for a 7th consecutive week after $52.366 billion chased after the $32 billion on offer to yield an average of 8 percent some 24 percent lower than the auction March 15 when rates peaked at 10.54 percent.
Today’s rate is the lowest since October 26 last year with an average of 7.68 percent and seems like a prelude to the central bank cutting the overnight rate this month, with inflation running at the lowest level in more than three years.
The bank received 277 bids of which 214 were successful, with the highest rate submitted being 10.25 percent but the highest successful rate was just under 8.15 percent.
The auction will result in $103 billion due on the 30 days CDS, down from $108 billion last week.

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BOJ CD rate falls again

April 26, 2023 by

Rates payable on Bank of Jamaica CD instruments declined for six consecutive weeks following applications received in response to an offer of $32 billion by the Bank of Jamaica today and resulted in an average yield of 8.11% for successful bids, down from 8.32 percent last week. 
The auction attracted 257 bids for just over $46.43 billion, with 199 successful. The lowest submitted rate was 7.5 percent and the highest at 10.25 percent, down from 11 percent in the previous auction, with a partially successful bid at 8.25 percent, down from 8.35 percent previously.
The total amount of 30 days CDs is now $103 billion, down from $106 billion last week.

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More decline in interest rates

April 20, 2023 by

Bank of Jamaica’s latest CD offer of $20 billion attracted 186 bids amounting to $44,629,464,000, but only 75 bids were successful and resulted in the average yield of 8.32 percent for successful bids, that is down from 8.41 percent at last week’s auction and represents the fourth decline since the rates closed at 10.54 percent for the March 17 CDs.
The lowest bid at this week’s auction was 7.50 percent, down from 8 percent last week and the highest bid was 11 percent, but the highest rate for total allocation was 8.349 percent, with the highest rate for partial allocation being 8.34999 percent resulting in success for 99.30 percent of the amount applied for.
The total nominal outstanding amount for the 30-day CDs on April 21 will be $106 billion.

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BOJ sucks $11 billion from money market

April 8, 2023 by

Bank of Jamaica sucked more money from the financial market on Wednesday, April 5, pushing the total CDs outstanding to $99 billion, up from $89 a week ago, with the average rate holding steady under 8.5 percent for a second week but the total amount of CDs outstanding is still below the record of $109.5 billion on March 1.
The bank offered $34 billion in CDs and attracted $59.7 billion from 351 bids, with only 253 successful bids getting allocated funds. The offer elicited bids as high as 13.5 percent and as low as 8 percent. The interest rate for the highest successful bid was 8.749 percent and received 75.23 percent of the amount applied for, with the highest fully satisfied rate being 8.74 percent.
At the auction on March 29, a total of 438 bids amounting to $70 million chased after the $35 billion on offer, with 302 being successful at an average rate of 8.49 percent and resulting in $88.85 billion being quarantined by the central bank. The rate on CDs fell to an average of 8.85 at the March 22 auction from the prior auction rate of 10.54 percent.

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