KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) said on Wednesday it received the Best Bank Award 2025 from the international financial publication Global Finance.

BOJ Governor Richard Byles accepted the award during the publication’s awards ceremony in Washington DC held alongside the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings.

Global Finance also gave Byles an “A” grade in its 2025 Central Banker Report Card, an annual assessment of nearly 100 central bank governors worldwide. The grade positioned the BOJ at the top of the rankings for central bank leadership in the Caribbean and Latin America.

In a statement, Byles said the award, an improvement on the ‘A-‘ grade received in 2024, reflected the work of the bank’s staff. He said it recognised their efforts in delivering on the bank’s mandates, which include inflation control, financial system stability and the supervision of deposit-taking institutions.

Byles also said the central bank was committed to facilitating recovery after Hurricane Melissa caused significant damage to Jamaica’s economic and social infrastructure. He said delivering on its main mandate of price stability was vital to supporting national recovery.

Global Finance’s rankings are based on input from the financial industry and metrics including monetary policy, financial system supervision, transparency, and independence from political control.

The publication commended the BOJ for its consistent monetary policy actions to control inflation following hurricane disasters in 2024. It noted that despite the impact of hurricanes Beryl and Rafael, the bank and the government maintained a steady macroeconomic course.

The BOJ held its monetary policy rate at 7 per cent until August 2024, later cutting it several times to 5.75 per cent by September 2025 as inflation eased, Global Finance said.

— Dashan Hendricks