5 Dollars

Jamaica's shift to nickel-plated steel for this denomination was driven by chronic metal cost pressures that had made the earlier cupronickel issues economically impractical to produce. The Bank of Jamaica undertook a broader coinage reform in the early 1990s to reduce minting expenses across the circulating series, and this piece was part of that rationalization.

The nearly three-decade production run with no composition change is worth noting — most Caribbean central banks revised their circulating coinage at least once during that window.