Colombia’s finance minister welcomes news that the dollar rose against the peso Monday, citing a package of measures that the Colombian government instigated to curb the strengthening the peso, local media report.
Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas stated that “The dollar started [on Monday] 0.5% above where it closed on Friday, which means that this package of measures announced last week are paying off,”
The Minister also noted that the newly-instigated measures provide greater rights of intervention for the central bank which would reportedly save up to $1 billion dollars in 2013. Means of ensuring that government-owned oil company Ecopetrol does not suffer the same $3 billion debt as in 2012 have also been put in place.