Jamaica’s Reserves Hold Firm at US$6.3Bn Despite Hurricane Melissa Fallout

  • Jamaica’s international reserves remain at historically strong levels despite a weakened external position following the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which struck the island on October 28, according to the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ).
  • BOJ Governor Richard Byles noted the country’s reserves stood at approximately US$6.3Bn in mid-December 2025, representing about 151% of the adequacy benchmark[1]. International reserves are foreign-currency assets held by the central bank to pay for imports, stabilise the exchange rate and cushion the economy against shocks.
  • Meanwhile, the Central Bank has intensified its interventions to maintain stability in the foreign exchange market since the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Byles reported that the BOJ has injected US$250Mn into the market, including the direct supply of foreign exchange to selected energy-sector players to remove large, irregular purchases from open trading. Nevertheless, the country’s international reserves are still anticipated to remain robust over the near to medium term.
  • In the near term, the reserve position is expected to be supported by disaster risk financing, multilateral funding and grant inflows, including proceeds from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility and Jamaica’s catastrophe bond. Furthermore, gross reserves are projected to remain above the ARA 100% benchmark over the medium-term.
  • The BOJ has also reinstated advance notices of foreign exchange intervention sales, a move which is expected to improve market expectations around liquidity. As a result, the exchange rate remained broadly stable between November 1 and mid-December, relative to end-October levels. Over the 12 months to the end of November 2025, the BOJ sold approximately US$1.1Bn through its B-FXITT facility, broadly in line with sales over the previous year. During the same period, net foreign exchange purchases totalled about US$1Bn.
  • That said, risks to the reserve projections are tilted to the downside. The main downside risks stem from weaker remittance and travel inflows, reflecting slower growth in source markets and a more protracted recovery in the tourism sector. In addition, net private capital inflows could fall short of projections. As such, if these downside risks materialise, pressures in the foreign exchange market could be more protracted than projected.

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1The International Monetary Fund’s Assessing Reserve Adequacy (ARA) metric

(Sources: Caribbean National Weekly & BOJ)