Keith senior is a highly respected financial analyst who has worked internationally and has advised the Jamaican government in various areas of its operation. He, for a time, served on the board of the island's central bank, the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ).

Now, Senior has cast a critical eye on the performance of the BOJ over the past dozen years, a period that coincides with the tenure of its current governor, Derick Latibeaudiere, and found it wanting.

In this, the first of a three-part analysis, he reviews the mandate of the central bank and how it has performed measured by its own criteria as well as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which he uses as a proxy for a good-performing central bank.

Senior's conclusion: the BOJ has failed to produce the monetary environment conducive to currency stability, economic growth and job creation.