Colombia’s currency continues to appreciate, as it again made the biggest gain in an emerging market the week ending July 4. The peso’s value jumped 1.8 percent, taking the currency to $1,846.50 COP against the US dollar.
First-quarter growth in Colombia this year was 6.4 percent, the highest growth rate in Latin America. The central bank continues to buy dollars as Colombian industry calls for controls on the peso’s unprecedented growth to protect profits and fend off inflation.
Despite a continued upward trend, Central Bank Governor Jose Dario Uribe told a press conference this week that the bank expects a reverse in the peso’s rally “sooner rather than later.”
The peso is currently at its strongest level over a year. The Central Bank has announced plans to buy up to $2 billion US dollars in the third quarter of the 2014, an increase of 1 billion USD in second-quarter dollar buying.