BOJ cuts interest rates again to 6.75%
Published:Wednesday | February 23, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Effective today, February 23, the interest rate payable on Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) 30-day Certificates of Deposit will be reduced by 50 basis points, to 6.75 per cent.
The central bank said the adjustment reflects a decline as well as prospects for further reduction in headline inflation in the new fiscal year, 2011-12.
The economy experienced deflation in January when the consumer price index fell 0.2 per cent on average, according to Statin data previously published on February 15.
"While international prices for agricultural commodities and oil have become more volatile, domestics demand conditions have been weaker than earlier anticipated and have suppressed core, or underlying, inflation in the Jamaican economy," the BOJ said.
The central bank said its rate cut also comes in anticipation of "very liquid conditions" in the money market arising from the payment of principal and interest on Government benchmark securities. The Government raised US$400 million on the Eurobond market this month to help finance maturing debt.