Key Points:

Cash still dominates the economy: About 72 per cent of personal consumption is cash-based, while only 8 per cent of merchants have POS systems, highlighting a major gap in digital payment acceptance.

Acceptance—not demand—is the constraint: Consumers are increasingly ready to pay digitally, but limited merchant infrastructure—just 11 POS terminals per 1,000 people—is slowing adoption across sectors.

Growth and credit access at risk: Heavy reliance on cash reduces efficiency, limits business expansion, and restricts access to financing by leaving many transactions undocumented.

CASH still dominates everyday transactions in Jamaica, accounting for about 72 per cent of personal consumption spending, while only about 8 per cent of merchants have point-of-sale (POS) systems — a gap that is limiting business growth and slowing the shift to digital payments.

In a recent report on payments across Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Mastercard pointed to a structural gap between consumers’ ability to pay digitally and merchants’ capacity to accept those payments.

According to findings from its latest Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI) study, Jamaica has roughly 11 POS terminals per 1,000 people, highlighting limited acceptance infrastructure despite increasing digital payment usage.

“Jamaica presents a clear opportunity to bring more businesses into the digital payments ecosystem at a time when cash still accounts for a significant share of everyday transactions,” said Dalton Fowles, Mastercard Jamaica country manager. “Closing this gap will help businesses reach more customers, operate more efficiently, and fully participate in the digital economy.”

The study found that cash remains dominant across both formal and informal segments, including small businesses, utilities, government services and public transportation. Even in sectors typically associated with card usage — such as travel and dining — more than half of transactions are still conducted using cash or manual transfers.

Cash usage exceeded 50 per cent across retail, health care and education, and was highest in transportation and housing, including utility payments.

The persistence of cash-based transactions limits how quickly businesses can scale, reduces efficiency, and restricts access to credit by limiting the availability of transaction data.

“The region doesn’t have a digital payments demand problem, it has an acceptance gap,” said Lindsay Lehr Tutson, managing director at PCMI. “Closing that gap will require new business models, fit-for-purpose technology, innovative merchant services, and stronger ecosystem collaboration.”

Contactless payments are emerging as one pathway to close that gap. With usage already at 56 per cent in Jamaica, Mastercard said expanding tap-to-pay solutions could help align consumer behaviour with merchant acceptance.

Mastercard said increasing digital acceptance would allow merchants to get paid faster, reduce the risks associated with handling cash, and reach more customers, including online, while building transaction histories that can support access to financing.

Division president for North LAC at Mastercard, Kiki Del Valle, described the region as “one of the most significant untapped opportunities for digital payments in the Americas”, noting that millions of consumers are ready to pay digitally but many businesses remain outside the formal payments ecosystem.

Without wider adoption of digital acceptance, the report suggests Jamaica risks slowing productivity gains and limiting the growth potential of small and medium-sized enterprises.