Colombia’s finance minister said that his nation is prepared for a downturn in the global economy, as stock prices fell in Europe and the U.S., El Espectador reported Thursday.
Finance Minister Juan Carlos Echeverry said that while markets have dropped elsewhere in the world, Latin America is a special case and that economic indicators in the region continue to be robust.
Echeverry said that President Juan Manuel Santos’ economic policies were designed to cushion Colombia from turbulence in foreign markets. The minister added that “the central bank has more than $32 billion in international reserves, which, as the name implies, are reserves for a compromised situation.”
The minister did note that trouble in foreign markets was not a positive development and that when “there is international turbulence it is clearly not good for anyone.”
Echeverry said that he hopes that the international stock declines do not last for more than a few days but added that “we must be prepared for the turbulent waters in which we are sailing.”
Thursday the Dow Jones lost 2.43% and the S&P 500 fell 2.6%. In Paris stocks fell 3.9% and London saw a decline of 3.4%. The drop of stock prices is thought to be motivated by concerns over European debt and the performance of European and U.S. economies.