Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor Brian Wynter continues to push for the Jamaican public to join the bank in concentrating on the achievement of low inflation targets rather than the appreciation or depreciation of the Jamaican dollar against its US counterpart.
“The important thing is inflation, not the exchange rate,” Wynter said.
Pointing to several improvements in the economy, including job creation, gross domestic product (GDP) growth between 1.0 and 2.0 per cent, healthy international reseverves, and low market interest rates, Wynter said the bank “is able to continue with an accomodative policy stance in support of expanded output and job creation which will return inflation to the bank’s target of 4.0 to 6.0 per cent“.
He was speaking to members of the media at the Quarterly Monetary Policy Report (QMPR) press conference at the central bank in downtown Kingston on Wednesday.
Recently there has been some public concern and commentary about the Jamaican dollar falling in value against the US dollar — at a time when the US dollar was strengthening against almost all world currencies — and the idea that the bank was somehow trying to manipulate the exchange rate downwards in an effort to increase inflation.
This has even been a topic for a recent Clovis cartoon in the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday which depicted the governor trying to assure the press that the central bank was not involved in exchange rate manipulation, only on lowering interest rate; while a crippled Jamaican dollar lay flat on its back, struggling to get back on its feet.
But Wynter was at pains to tackle that narrative head-on.
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