BOJ to pull 'red money'

It appears that Jamaicans seldom use its lowest three denominations, and as such, the Bank of Jamaica is moving to withdraw them.

A proposal to withdraw and demonetise the one cent, 10 cent, and 25 cent coins has been approved by Cabinet.

Information Minister Ruel Reid, who made the announcement yesterday, at a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, said that the coin denominations that would remain, subject to the central bank's timeline for implementation, would be $1, $5, $10, and $20.

"The proposal and approval come against the background of an assessment showing that the use of the lower three denominations has been decreasing since 2005," Reid added.

He said that an assessment done by the bank showed that the manufacturing costs consistently exceeded the face value of the coins.