And The Dollar Slide Hastens! J$ Loses 3.2% Of Value In February

Source: Bank of Jamaica

The J$ closed February at J$97.11 to $US1, thereby hastening the rate of depreciation from January’s 1.2% to February’s 3.2%! Simple mathematics would suggest the J$ has lost 4.4% of its value since December 31, 2012.  Annualized, that rate of depreciation is 26.4%!  Given the variance from January to February and the small size sample it is highly unlikely that the dollar will devalue by 26.4% in 2013.  However, if that rate of depreciation were to hold, it would be the highest since 1993 (47.3%) and it is likely that the J$ would hit the psychological barrier of J$100 to US$1 sometime in April.

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