Finance

Bank of Jamaica's innovative strategy: Learning inflation the Reggae way

Updated : April 19, 2019 05:25 PM IST

The land of Bob Marley and Olympic sprinter has a message for its citizens: A little bit of inflation isn’t necessarily such a bad thing.

With a series of music videos, radio jingles and television PSAs, the central bank of the Caribbean nation has not only reached the citizens of Jamaica but is winning hearts globally.

Who knew Reggae music and monetary policy could go hand-in-hand? In an innovative way, the Bank of Jamaica has incorporated the beloved art form of Reggae music in explaining its citizens the concept of inflation.

The land of Bob Marley and Olympic sprinter has a message for its citizens: A little bit of inflation isn’t necessarily such a bad thing.

Low and stable inflation is to the heartbeat of the economy! #BOJspeaks #InflationTargeting pic.twitter.com/6g9t2FovH7
— Bank of Jamaica (@CentralBankJA) January 9, 2019

With a series of music videos, radio jingles and television PSAs, the central bank of the Caribbean nation has not only reached the citizens of Jamaica but is winning hearts globally with one video been viewed 200,000 times on Twitter.

According to Quartz's report, Tony Morrison, the public relations director of Bank of Jamaica was the mind behind the ingenious campaign. He is “building credibility for the new policy stance by asking to be held accountable for it by the wider populace," economist Damien King was quoted as saying in the report.

#BOJspeaks #InflationTargeting pic.twitter.com/NHJVLkcBUI
— Bank of Jamaica (@CentralBankJA) December 28, 2018

The island nation in the Caribbean has suffered immensely in the past economically with inflation rates reaching up to 90 percent in 1991 and as recently as 2015, the inflation was in double-digits. After five years of rigorous economic reforms, the country’s inflation rate is down to just 2.5 percent. However, the central bank expects inflation to be in between 4 to 6 percent, the Quartz report mentioned.

“They just don’t understand yet why too low is bad. When we start aiming for 3 percent, or one day maybe 2 percent, we’ll have to explain why we’re not aiming for 1 percent or 0," Morrison was quoted by Quartz.

#BOJspeaks #InflationTargeting pic.twitter.com/dl8F1nfAVH
— Bank of Jamaica (@CentralBankJA) December 31, 2018

Bank of Jamaica's innovative strategy: Learning inflation the Reggae way

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