The Colombian peso reached a high of 1,780.27 to the U.S. dollar in New York on Wendesday, its highest level since August 2008, Bloomberg reported.
Much of the peso’s rise has been attributed to rising foreign investment in the oil and mining industries as well as companies repatriating profits from abroad in order to pay taxes. Companies are due to pay taxes in Colombian between April 8 and April 25 this year.
Foreign direct investment increased by $3.23 billion in the year from March 2010, 86% of which went into oil and mining, according to trade balance figures from the central bank.
Portfolio inflows have also risen to $825 million between March 2010 and March 2011 compared to a net decrease of $21 million the year before, according to the central bank.
The currency has increased by 5.1% so far this month making the peso currently one of the best performing world currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
Earlier this week, the head of Colombia’s central bank announced that the country is on track to grow 5.5% this year, 1% more than was originally forecast.