Colombian peso was the fourth most revalued currency in Latin America during January

Colombia was one of the most revalued currencies in Latin America during January. Infobae: Jesus Aviles

The Colombian peso started the second week of February with a considerable depreciation, if one takes into account that the Representative Market Rate (TRM) of the dollar is around $4,800, that is, $138 more than what was registered a week ago. Despite this, if the numbers seen during January are evaluated, the national currency was one of the most prominent in Latin America. Only Chile, Costa Rica and Brazil outperformed the local currency.

Price of the dollar loses ground and closes at $4,584.15 on average

The decision of the United States Federal Reserve (FED) to raise interest rates by 0.25 points calmed the markets and the US currency fell 54.89 on Thursday, January 2

It makes sense if one takes into account that the dollar was trading on the 4,500-peso line during January. There were several factors that kept the price of the US currency low, among the most notable are the increases in the reference rates in the central banks, both European and North American, as well as the inflation and unemployment figures.

The severe fluctuation seen last month is evidenced in the statistics presented by the Bank of the Republic, where the maximum price was seen on January 6, with a TRM of 4,989.58 pesos, while the lowest was registered on the 27th. , with a reference of $4,531.75, means: the dollar lost $458 in 3 weeks.

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However, the good trend was interrupted with the arrival of February. This behavior is not exclusive to Colombia, the vast majority of Latin American currencies opened markets with downward trends, mainly due to the concerns and uncertainties that continue to arise due to the slowdown, which in the national case, have been evidenced with references. The clearest example is that the inflation figure presented by DANE does not go down, which for January was 13.25%, the highest in the 21st century.

Data presented by Bloomberg Línea estimate that as of February 2, the most revalued currencies in Latin America were: Chilean peso (9.1%), Costa Rican colon (5.4%), Brazilian real (5.3%), Colombian peso (5%), Mexican peso (4.5%) and the Uruguayan peso (2.9%).

Dollar has recovered its price during February, in Colombia and the region. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

It is essential to monitor the price of the dollar in Latin America, since it will be the market reference at the international level. Taking into account the signs of slowdown in some economies, the reports from central banks have a great impact on the behavior of currencies.

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Although the Colombian peso was one of the ones that had the most returns during January, in February it is one of the most devalued, mainly due to internal factors, the most recent being the presentation of the inflation figure. According to the calculations and estimates of various international analyses, the national currency has fallen by close to 1.90%.

In fact, during the day of February 6, it became the most depreciated currency in the region, according to analysts and different economic portals, added to the historic inflation figure, the departure of Felipe Bayón from Ecopetrol, in addition to the resignations of technical officials of the presidential cabinet, would have had implications for markets and investors.

All this means that over the next few months the country will continue to see higher prices, although it is expected that the increases will not be as drastic as in recent days, or at least that is what Corficolombiana estimates:

“In that perfect storm, what we have had is very strong food inflation (…) “Colombia continues in a very important inflationary inertia and what we are going to see in the first half of the year are perhaps higher figures, while In the other countries they begin to have lower inflation, perhaps it will take Colombia a while longer to normalize inflation rates,” said José Ignacio López, director of economic research at Corficolombiana, in an interview with the FM.

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