Colombia’s finance minister on Wednesday expressed confidence the peso will weaken amid government intervention following a strong appreciation in the first half of January.
“I think the dollar is going to go back to 1,800 pesos very soon,” Minister Mauricio Cardenas told Bloomberg.
Tuesday, the central bank’s announcement for increasing dollar purchases which sent the peso falling. Cardenas told the U.S. television network the Finance Ministry will boost dollar purchases this month and buy about $1 billion this year for its oil stability fund.
More tactics for controlling the country’s currency will be discussed by policy makers at a roundtable later this month.
The fast appreciation of the peso is in part an effect of Colombia’s high level of foreign capital inflows spurred by an appetite for investment in the energy and mining sectors.
