Jamaica policy interest rate
The Bank of Jamaica policy rate — defined by BOJ as the rate of interest paid on overnight balances held by deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) in their current accounts at Bank of Jamaica. Set by the BOJ Monetary Policy Committee under the Bank of Jamaica Act (as amended 2020, which created the statutory MPC and the inflation-targeting mandate); eight scheduled decision announcements per year.
| Current value | 5.5 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-02-24 |
| Official source | Bank of Jamaica — Summary of Decisions, February 2026 MPC meeting: 'reduce the policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 per cent per annum, effective 24 February 2026'; reaffirmed verbatim in the Summary of Decisions and Monetary Policy Press Release for the 25-26 June 2026 meeting — 'maintain the policy rate (the rate offered to deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) on their current account balances at BOJ) at 5.50 per cent per year' |
| Last verified | 2026-07-23 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
WHICH INSTRUMENT: BOJ's own decision wording names the policy rate as 'the rate offered to deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) on their current account balances at BOJ'. BOJ's Policy Rates page states the definition twice: 'Effective 1 July 2017, the Bank of Jamaica policy rate is the interest rate paid on overnight deposits held by deposit-taking institutions ("DTIs") at Bank of Jamaica', restated from 1 March 2019 as 'Interest is paid on overnight balances in the current accounts of deposit-taking institutions at Bank of Jamaica. The applicable interest rate is the Bank of Jamaica policy rate.' (https://boj.org.jm/core-functions/monetary-policy/policy-rates/). LOOKALIKE TO AVOID: BOJ's 30-day Certificate of Deposit is a weekly competitive-price auction and is NOT the policy rate. Its coupon is currently offered at 5.75% FR — 25bps above the policy rate — and its clearing yields move independently: the 22 July 2026 auction (JMD 27bn allotted, settlement 24 July 2026) produced an average yield on successfully allocated bids of 5.51% with a partial-allocation bid rate of 5.56%. Any of 5.75 / 5.56 / 5.51 would be wrong here. Also distinct: the overnight Standing Liquidity Facility rate, which sits above the policy rate (it moved from 7.00% to 6.75% when the policy rate went to 5.75% in May 2025); the corridor was narrowed to 200bps in December 2024. RATE PATH: the Feb 2026 cut was BOJ's first move since May 2025 and was justified by a faster-than-expected agricultural recovery and exchange-rate appreciation after Hurricane Melissa, with inflation then projected to trend within target over eight quarters. Since then the MPC has held unanimously at its March, May and June 2026 meetings, even as May 2026 headline inflation (5.5%) came in above BOJ's own projection and core inflation rose to 4.7% from 3.9% at January 2026; BOJ has publicly signalled readiness to tighten if second-round effects from external price shocks materialise. Next scheduled announcement: 19 August 2026 (https://boj.org.jm/core-functions/monetary-policy/policy-schedule/). Target: 4.0-6.0% headline inflation.
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-12-23 | 6 | Bank of Jamaica — Summary of Decisions, MPC meetings of 18 a |
| 2025-05-21 | 5.75 | Bank of Jamaica — Market Notice: Interest Rate Change, 20 Ma |
Get it programmatically
curl https://latamref.dev/v1/jm/policy-rate
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://latamref.dev/v1/jm/policy-rate/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://latamref.dev/provenance/jm/policy-rateOther Jamaica series: VAT rate · minimum wage · public holidays · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates