Byles: From $3.6B to $6.4B in Reserves, Zero Bank Failures

Richard Byles closed out nearly seven years as Governor of the Bank of Jamaica on Wednesday with a data-heavy defence of his tenure, pointing to gross international reserves growing from US$3.6 billion in 2019 to US$6.4 billion as of May 2026, zero bank failures on his watch, and average annual inflation of 5 per cent, within the Bank's 4.0–6.0 per cent target, when the period of global supply chain disruption is excluded. 

 

Byles also cited Jamaica's removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FAFT) Grey List in 2024, dividends exceeding JM$50 billion paid to the Ministry of Finance, and international recognition including a Best Central Bank award and an 'A' grade on Global Finance's Central Banker Report Card, placing BOJ among the highest-rated central banks globally.

 

The outgoing Governor did not leave without accountability, flagging the weakness of monetary transmission as a structural problem his successor will inherit, noting that Jamaica's concentrated banking system constrains the pass-through of monetary policy signals to actual credit and lending rates, meaning rate decisions don't reliably move the needle for businesses and consumers. 

 

He credited former Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke for establishing BOJ's operational independence, a reform he called "bold and consequential," while acknowledging current Minister Fayval Williams for preserving it.

 

Byles' farewell came on the same day he presented BOJ's formal economic report to Parliament's Standing Finance Committee, which carried a far less comfortable affairs, including inflation being forecast to breach the Bank's upper target limit in the coming quarters, driven by a Middle East conflict that has pushed crude oil prices up 59.4 per cent since March 2026, and the lingering economic impact of Hurricane Melissa, which helped drive a 7.1 per cent GDP contraction in the December 2025 quarter.