Colombia’s Finance Ministry has spent $195 million to counteract the fall in the dollar, newspaper El Espectador reported Monday.
“We have spent $194.9 million this year as a part of the intervention policy (in the exchange market) so exporters and entrepreneurs who compete with imports should know that the government is taking on a great expense in this fight. It is a never-ending struggle in which we are dedicated to continue and obviously we believe that expectations by the end of the year should be towards devaluation,” said finance Minister Juan Carlos Echeverry.
The government stated that the current strength of the dollar is starting to cause deep concern because it greatly affects export policy and could cause difficulties to Colombian producers.
Every ministry has started to explore plans to confront the reevaluation of the Colombia currency which during this year has risen by close to 6.9% and over the last 12 months by 2.37%. In July the price of the peso hit a three-year high on the back of record foreign direct investment.
The finance minister went on to say “we are doing many things. Each ministry is carrying out sector-specific programs.”
Echeverry added that he is happy with his estimation of the percentage of economic growth of between 5% and 6%. He believes that this growth is being sustained by an increase in domestic consumption.