Jamaica launches its own digital currency, the Jamaican digital dollar

• Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, announced that the island will have its own digital dollar within two years. Holness claims he is doing so to help bring financial inclusion to Jamaica’s economy.

• The new digital currency is part of the country’s new development projects.

The Bank of Jamaica announced their plans to release a digital currency called the Jamaican dollar which will be usable in the country and hopefully increase the number of financial transactions and facilitate ease and expediency.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has said that the proposed plan will serve as a “digital payment foundation” and facilitate future developments such as financial inclusion, making transactions much faster and reducing banking costs for citizens.

PM Holness has revealed his plan on Twitter.

This allows for full transparency whilst ensuring that jobs are adequately compensated.

— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) February 10, 2022

In December 2021, the Bank of Jamaica said that it had successfully completed a pilot project issuing 230 million digital Jamaican dollars.

The Jamaican Central Bank has introduced a new form of currency and it’s changing financial habits for everyone. The digital money will help include the under-banked and make their lives easier while giving them greater access to financial benefits.

Jamaica has joined the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean in launching its own digital currency. The National Commercial Bank has signed up 57 customers across the country that can create their own digital wallets and deposit funds.

With the digitalization of currency, the government has been looking towards large infrastructure projects such as Southern Coastal Highway Improvement project. One four-lane roadway was constructed from Harbour View to Yallahs while some new houses were also being planned in some areas.