The United States dollar Monday dipped below 2,000 pesos at 1,997.50
for the first time in months. The U.S. currency ended at COP2.015.40 at
the end of the trading day.
The peso’s recent revaluation, blamed on surging oil prices, is already affecting dollar-operated exports and is putting industries like the production of flowers at risk, exporters say.
Agriculture and cattle are the most vulnerable sectors of the national
economy that would suffer the effects of revaluation, as the Colombian agriculture and cattle farmers depend on exports. The fall of the U.S. currency means less
incomes in pesos.
Mining can
benefit from the revaluation because it is in the hands of mostly U.S. based multinationals.
At the same time, importers may benefit the cheap dollar, because they get better
revenues. As importers in Colombia are a powerful
economic group, the balance between exporters (most of them growers)
and importers is difficult to hold by the policies of the government.
