The Colombian Central Bank should buy dollars on the spot market to curb the peso’s appreciation, Juan Camilo Restrepo, the country’s agriculture minister, said Wednesday.
Restrepo said the strong peso is hurting the country’s agriculture as producers lose competitiveness on the export markets and suffer from harsher competition from cheap imports in the domestic market.
Between early March and late June, the bank had bought $20 million a day in the spot market in a bid to slow the peso’s appreciation and increase its international reserves. The bank halted purchases June 30 after buying $1.6 billion. The bank’s board has said it may resume dollar purchases when needed.
So far this year, the peso has appreciated 13% against the dollar. (Inti Landauro / Dow Jones Newswires)