The flood of dollars has overtaken actual flooding as the main concern for flower growers in Colombia as they prepare for one of the busiest days of the year, Mother’s Day.
“This flood of dollars is worse than the winter rains that have hit the country and affected many crops,” Augusto Solano, president of the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters Asocolflores, told newspaper El Espectador.
Although Tuesday the greenback closed at COP1,763.75, up 0.01% against the previous day, so far this year it has weakened 7.6% against the peso, which means a critical decrease in revenues that the industry had estimated for 2011.
A further reduction would bring even more negative consequences, “The trend could lead the dollar to fall below COP1,700. If this happens, we would be forced to layoff workers,” said Solano.