Prime Minister Holness: 70% of Jamaica's population will switch to CBDC in 5 years

He noted the advantages of using CBDC, including the reduced banking costs and inclusiveness

17.01.2022 - 13:15

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What’s new? The Central Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) has successfully completed a pilot test of CBDC in early January. Following this, the country's Prime Minister Andrew Holness spoke confidently about the adoption of a central bank digital currency in the country in an interview with Bloomberg.

Information on the Bloomberg website

What else did Holness say? He predicted that the majority of Jamaica's population will quickly adopt the digital currency, with more than 70% using CBDC within five years. In the interview, the Jamaican Prime Minister noted the advantages of using CBDC, including the reduced banking costs and inclusivity.

“There will be some initial challenges. We need to figure out how to give people access to digital devices and the internet in general.”

What had happened before? The Bank of Jamaica has pioneered CBDC with one of the world's first nationwide pilots. After partnering with the Irish cryptocurrency company eCurrency Mint in March 2021, the central bank launched an eight-month pilot project.

The bank issued 230 million JMD in CBDC to the deposit-taking institutions and authorized payment service providers. The BoJ then issued 1 million JMD in CBDC to employees of the BoJ Banking Department and another 5 million JMD to the National Commercial Bank, the country's major financial institution.

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