The Colombian peso, which has appreciated 23% so far this year, is too strong and causes problems to exporters, so the government and Central Bank will evaluate measures to mitigate its effects, the country’s Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, said Wednesday.
“We are working to evaluate different options considering that the current levels of the exchange rate are out of the equilibrium, which generates problems for the government’s main concern, the unemployment rate,” Zuluaga told reporters.
He said the level of exchange rate between 2,000 Colombian pesos and COP2,200 to the dollar, which was the average during the main part of the year was fine.
The Colombian peso has appreciated 11% in the past two months to close at COP1,827.5 to the dollar Wednesday.
Zuluaga said a direct intervention from the Central Bank on the currency market is a possibility as well as the limiting the entry of capital flows.
The Colombian government won’t drop the free-floating regime of the currency, he added. (Dow Jones)