Jamaica to Launch Digital Dollar in 2022, Says Prime Minister

The Bank of Jamaica will launch its digital currency – the Jamaican dollar – soon this year.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness remarked that the new plan would serve the country’s digital payment foundation and facilitate further plans like financial inclusion, increase transaction speed and reduce banking costs for citizens.

In a Twitter post, Holness revealed the news and several other schemes to be implemented soon.

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

The government came up with the central bank digital currency system to include a majority of Jamaicans who are away from the financial system and make them a part of the formal financial benefits. The virtual currency would then replace 5% of Jamaican dollars each year.

For creating the digital currency, Jamaica has joined the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.

The National Commercial Bank has signed up 57 customers to access the new currency.  The customers can sign up for a digital wallet and deposit funds in exchange for digital currency.

Apart from the digitalization of currency, the government looks forward to implementing large infrastructure projects like the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement project, four-lane roadway construction from Harbour View to Yallahs, new Houses of Parliament, etc.