Kingston.
Jamaicans were told not to panic as the local currency hit an all time low trading at J$100 to one United States dollar on Friday.
Lecturer in Economics at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr Andre Haughton, said that the J$100 to US$1 barrier is symbolic.
“We’ve been expecting this, there have been days before Friday where the US dollar was traded over J$100 in some instances, the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) has a lot of reserves now.
“But they are still limited when we look at our foreign currency earning potential over the duration of time, so they cannot be defending the dollar too rigidly and maintaining the value for the short run and then in the long run we don’t have enough foreign currency to keep us stable,” he said.
The Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA) said it was concerned at the level of the local currency, saying the slide is a cause for worry.
JMA Deputy President Metry Seaga has warned of increased costs to local manufacturers.
