Colombia will feel the pain of Greece’s ongoing debt crisis that has affected markets worldwide, the South American country’s finance minister said Tuesday.
Caracol Radio quoted Minister Juan Carlos Echeverry as saying that the Colombian stock market, like those of all emerging nations, felt a slight shock after Greece’s prime minister announced a national vote on an unpopular plan to rescue the European country’s economy. A wave of selling swept across global markets.
Because of this, the Colombian peso rose by COP28 against the dollar, Echeverry said.
With the markets under pressure, the Colombian government’s main priorities is to preserve Colombian jobs, said the minister.
“The Colombian economy is as solid as it can be,” he said. “Obviously we are going to be affected because we area a small and open economy, fortunately we are solid and will continue creating employment.”
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou stunned markets when he said on Monday that he would hold a referendum on new austerity measures agreed with its international lenders.