The Jamaican Dollar Reaches a New Low

The Jamaican dollar continued to teeter around the century barrier today crashing through the $99 Jamaican, to US $1 mark for the first time ever.

It ended trading at $99.7 Jamaican, to one US $1 dollar on April 2. This after losing 19 cents in trading against the US dollar after the Easter break.

Bank of Jamaica figures showed demand continues to out-strip supply in the foreign exchange market. On Monday, April 1, authorized dealers bought 55 million US dollars and sold just over $62M. The figures showed that some traders paid as high as JMD $103 for the US dollar.

Analysts say the dollar continues to lose value because of the lack of confidence in the economic programmes, and the protracted delays in getting an IMF agreement.

As the dollar sinks, government will be required to pay-out more to service its foreign debt.

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