Currency in circulating increased at a much faster pace that Bank of Jamaica projected in early December. According to the Central Bank “the faster currency growth possibly reflected improved GDP growth, employment and retroactive wage settlements during the period.”
During the last six days of December, Bank of Jamaica recorded net currency issue of $5.457 billion to financial institutions. This was substantially above the Bank’s projection for net issue of $412 million as well as the $860 million currency issue for the corresponding period of 2017 and average of $1,396 billion over the past 5 years. The currency issue for the week contributed to an overall growth of $23.6 billion or 21.4 per cent in the currency stock for December 2018, above the Bank’s projection for growth of $18 billion or 16.5 per cent. The increase for the month also exceeded that for December 2017 of 16.5 percent and was the largest growth in December since 2007.
Grace new HQ close to the end of construction in downtown Kingston
The Bank is anticipating, that most of the currency issued during December, will be redeemed in January. The release from the bank stated that, “for the last five years, net currency redemption in January averaged 75.8 per cent of the net currency issued in the preceding month.”
