The dollar continues to rise in Colombia and on the morning of this Thursday, it has been negotiated at 3,657.4 pesos, that is, 67.5 pesos above its historical record that was presented on July 12, when it was negotiated at 4,589.9 pesos.
On average, the US currency started the day with an average price of 4,641 pesos, which represents a rise of 92 pesos compared to the Representative Market Rate in force for this Thursdaywhich stands at 4,548.89 pesos.
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According to the Set-Fx platform, the currency opened the day with a price of 4,585 pesos and the maximum price reached at 8:48 was 4,657.4 pesos.
On the previous day, the foreign currency it also registered a strong rise and erased the losses that it had added at the start of the week between Monday and Tuesday.
capital taxes
The rise of the currency this Thursday It is recorded a day after President Gustavo Petro said that raising the rates of the Banco de la República does not serve to contain inflation.
According to Petro, if interest rates are being raised to prevent capital flight, a transitory tax could be placed on these flows.
On the morning of this Thursday, in the midst of the rise in the dollar, Juan David Ballén, director of Analysis and Strategy of the brokerage firm Casa de Bolsa, said that with the dollar’s all-time highs on the day, the peso “accumulates and leads the devaluation of the currencies of the region with more than 3 percent. Suggesting to carry out capital controls is a bad idea, it will generate a greater devaluation, inflation, rates and decrease“.
On Wednesday, Mauricio Cárdenas, former Minister of Finance, had written on his Twitter account, in relation to this issue, that the Issuer’s board “does not have the power to adopt taxes, what it does is make capital inflows or outflows more expensive with exchange measuresas compulsory deposits”.
But he also pointed out that a measure in this sense “would be suicide. The stampede of capital would generate more devaluation and more inflation”.
For his part, Munir Jalil, Chief Economist for the Andean Region of BTG Pactual, said: “Putting some limitation on the free movement of capital would affect not only government financing today, but also in the future, since these investors will prefer other countries that do not have these restrictions and allow them to enter and leave freely”.
According to Petro’s comments, to contain inflation it is better “tax reform for large fortunesthe fertilizer subsidy, the agrarian reform, food in poor neighborhoods and the change in the energy rate formula”.