Colombia could buy $13B to curb peso rally: Santos

Colombia’s central bank may step up dollar purchases to curb the appreciation of the country’s currency and create a “much higher” level of foreign reserves, President Juan Manuel Santos said Saturday.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Santos said that “the size of our foreign trade has increased, and according to many studies we can have a much higher level of reserves, about $13 billion higher.”

“I would recommend to the central bank that they increase the amount they purchase on a daily basis, and I imagine they are studying that to see if they should follow that path,” the president added.

According to the central bank, it had $34.3 billion in international reserves in June.

Since January, the peso has appreciated 9.2% against the dollar, the biggest gain of all 170 currencies monitored by Bloomberg.

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