Working Group to Deal with Devaluation – Hon. Audley Shaw

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has announced that a Working Group has been established to deal with the continued devaluation of the Jamaican dollar against the United States currency.

Addressing the House of Representatives on November 1, Mr. Shaw said the group will meet with the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) on a weekly basis, with the first meeting scheduled to be held on Friday, November 4.

The Minister said he is concerned about the rate of devaluation, as there is no shortage of foreign exchange, adding that the Net International Reserve (NIR) is more than US$3 billion.

He also said that the BOJ and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have assessed that “we have a fair market value for our exchange rate”.

“We have to come together to find a solution.  And, as a working group, we are going to look steadfastly at the trigger points that can affect the exchange rate negatively,” Mr. Shaw explained.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister said he met with representatives from the financial sector, and it was noted that the fundamentals in the economy are going in the right direction.

“I have inherited good news from the former Minister and we are continuing with the good news in the present Administration. We have stuck with the IMF programme, and we have fiscal containment,” Mr. Shaw said.

He added that inflation is at an all-time low, and the current account, “although still in deficit, is at the two per cent range, down from 10 to 11 per cent”.