Colombia’s richest man and president of business consortium Aval Group’s board of directors has said that now is not the time for capital controls.
Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, worth $1.1 billion according to Forbes magazine, said it is not yet time to consider using capital controls to control the peso’s rising value, and that instead, the Colombian central bank’s board will have to continue raising interest rates, newspaper El Espectador reported Thursday.
Sarmiento Angulo, Colombia’s only billionaire, stated his agreement with Finance Minister Juan Carlos Echeverry, who has said he is “not fond” of capital controls to limit gains in the peso. Central bank board members are in disagreement regarding the use of such measures, which regulate the amount of foreign currency or other flows into or out of the country.
Sarmiento Angulo gave his opinion at the same time as the Aval Group incorporated 91,000 new shareholders during its third share issuance.