BOJ Renews Call for Commercial Banks to Reduce Lending Rates

The Bank of Jamaica, BOJ, is again calling on commercial banks to ease the interest rate burden on their customers by passing on the reduced lending rates they enjoy from the central bank.

BOJ cut its commercial lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.75 per cent on Tuesday. It’s the fifth reduction in nine months, for a total of 1.25 percentage points.

But BOJ governor Richard Byles says data shows that customers are not benefitting from the reduced rates.

Byles was speaking Wednesday at the bank’s quarterly monetary policy briefing. He says the commercial banks are in a position to cut interest rates.

Richard Byles, governor of the Bank of Jamaica.