Minister of Finance  Dr Nigel Clarke announced that new banknotes will in circulation by the end of the year. The notes will improve in aesthetics as well as durability. The features will be more easily identified by the visually impaired.

Manley, Seaga side by side on $2,000 bill

Anticolonialism hero Bogle back on money; $2,500 sweetener for holders of low-risk accounts, digital currency

9 Mar 2022/Kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com

THE BANK of Jamaica (BOJ) will roll out a new $2,000 note in the coming months, 12 years after it first put the $5,000 bill into circulation, Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke has announced.

Clarke said the note, which will bear the images of former prime ministers Edward Seaga and Michael Manley, forms part of the BOJ’s push to make cash transactions more efficient.

He said technical studies have shown that there is need for the introduction of a currency denomination between the $1,000 and $5,000 notes.

“The introduction of a new currency denomination allows us to leverage technology and material science improvements and upgrade the family of notes to achieve greater cost efficiencies,” said Clarke, who opened the Budget Debate in Parliament on Tuesday.

He told Parliament that the BOJ will also be upgrading the look and structure of the current notes to feature all national heroes and deceased prime ministers.

The existing five banknotes feature only two of seven national heroes and three of four deceased prime ministers.

He said Paul Bogle, who featured on the $2 note until it was dematerialised in 1994, will return to the national currency. The 10 cent coin that bore his image was phased out in 2018.

Similarly, he said coins on which Alexander Bustamante, Norman Manley, George William Gordon, and Marcus Garvey appear do not give visibility consistent with the original intent.

“This, too, is an aberration that must be fixed. These heroes of Jamaica must be prominently placed on our banknotes consistent with the original intent,” the minister said.

Bogle and Gordon will appear together on the upgraded $50 banknote, while Garvey will appear alone on the upgraded $100 note. Nanny of the Maroons and Sam Sharpe will appear together on the upgraded $500 note, Bustamante and Norman Manley together on the $1,000 note, while Donald Sangster and Hugh Shearer will both appear on the upgraded $5,000 note.

The move coincides with Jamaica’s 60th year of Independence, but Clarke said that it is the current structure of the notes, which does not allow for durability, that prompted the change.

He said the current denominations use a mixture of material called substrates, while the $50 and $100 notes utilise a hybrid substrate, a mixture of cotton and polymer. The $500, $1,000 and $5,000 bills are on varnished cotton.

“The introduction of a substrate that offers a significant increase in the durability of banknotes will yield substantial benefits as it relates to the average circulation life of banknotes, which, in turn, will lead to lower order quantities with less frequency relative to current practice,” he said.

Additionally, Clarke said the upgrade of the banknotes will also provide the opportunity to implement enhancements that ensure that the visually impaired are able to easily identify all.

Meanwhile, he disclosed that the Government will expend $250 million to Jamaicans who open “low-risk” bank accounts as it moves to pacify frustration stemming from increased bank fees.

Concerns were raised in January when two of the country’s largest financial institutions sought to introduce new and increased fees

to customers.

Both the National Commercial Bank and Scotiabank came under pressure from lawmakers, the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, the Opposition, and thousands of customers over widely unpopular user fees considered excessive.

Clarke told the Lower House that“kneejerk price fixing doesn’t work, no matter how much you shout or scream,” noting at the same time the challenges being faced by financial institutions.

He said the Government will reduce the counterproductive asset tax on retail banks and financial institutions “as soon as we can afford to, on the condition that they pass the savings on to consumers”.

He said, too, that an amendment to the Proceeds of Crime Act now allows the BOJ to permit the creation of accounts with low-risk and less-stringent ‘know your customer’ requirements for opening bank accounts and with a maximum amount that can be held in the account.

The accounts will not attract bank fees, Clarke announced.

Additionally, he said to push take-up of the accounts, the Government will deposit to each of the first 100,000 enrollees $2,500. This will go for the first 100,000 bank customers who open an account after April 1.

“The policy of this Government is to protect the poor and vulnerable and we will never resile from it and allow anybody to equate what they want to do with protecting the poor. We will protect the poor and the vulnerable,” he said.

Added to that, he said the BOJ’s digital currency, Jam-Dex, will be rolled out later this year as part of the Government’s digital transformation of the economy.

The digital currency is expected to allow for the remote transfer of funds, Clarke said, reducing the hassle of cash transactions.

He said the first 100,000 digital currency wallets will, after April 1, receive a deposit from the Government of $2,500.

 

For feedback: contact the Editorial Department at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com.