US$100 million injected into the foreign exchange market

-to address short term timing mismatches

Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, along with Central Bank Governor Dr. Gobind Ganga, this afternoon met with the Chief Executive Officers and other representatives of commercial banks to discuss recent developments in the banking system specifically in relation to the market for foreign exchange.

At the meeting, note was taken of the continued availability of adequate levels of foreign currency in the financial system as a whole to meet ongoing demand, despite occasional timing differences. These timing differences have resulted in some delays being encountered in the settlement of orders for foreign currency from time to time at some commercial banks.

In order to ensure that pending requests for foreign currency are met in a timely manner, the decision was taken that a sum of US$100 million will be injected into the market with immediate effect and distributed across all commercial banks. This injection will provide immediate relief to the system in meeting pending demand for foreign currency, while the temporary timing mismatches unwind themselves.

Meanwhile, the Government remains closely engaged with the private sector including the commercial banks in the interest of ensuring that the market continues to function efficiently.