2018-02-15 Thu

One-cent, ten-cent and 25-cent coins of Jamaica will no longer be legal tender from 15th February. The coins can be redeemed for an indefinite period at the Bank of Jamaica. Electronic transactions will not be affected by this change.

The BOJ has been running several public awareness campaigns since September 2017 to educate consumers and businessmen about the effects of discontinuing these coins. Business operators have been asked to use a simple system of rounding up or rounding down.

One to 49 cents should be rounded down to the nearest dollar. 50-99 cents would be rounded up to the next nearest dollar.

The bank clarified that the cost of producing these low denomination coins is more than its actual value. Which is why discontinuing them would be better for the national economy.

The cost of producing a 1 cent coin is J$1.73; a 10-cent coin has a production value of J$1.54 and it takes almost 2 dollars to produce a 25-cent coin. Less than $3 goes into making $5 and $10 coin while less than $10 is used to make a $20 coin.

Even though the cost of producing a $1 coin is J$2.30, the denomination will not be withdrawn from circulation, since it is used heavily. They have plans to use a less expensive material to make these $1 coins.