Q COSTA RICA – The Colon exchange rate against the U.S. dollar continues its upward trend, given the strong appetite that the market shows for the acquisition of the foreign currency.
The average exchange rate recorded a change of ¢4.56 more for every dollar in a single day; the sell rate going from ¢590.57 on Tuesday to ¢595.13 this morning. This also represents a rise of ¢17.74 in the last week.
The buy rate this morning is ¢582.18.
According to experts, the accelerated rise in the dollar exchange is due to the lack of the foreign currency in the exchange market.
Why is there such a lower availability of the foreign currency? According to the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) – Central Bank, it arises from higher dollar requirements to attend to foreign trade flows, the increase in the quantity demand for that currency and the lower foreign exchange earnings to meet the net requirements of the public sector.
On Tuesday, May 23, the Foreign Currency Market once again recorded a high amount of currency trading.
The trading volume on Tuesday reached US$41.2 million, the third highest figure so far this year, only surpassed by the transactions on March 23 (US$45.7 million) and this Monday, May 22 (US$66.6 million).
Meanwhile, the Central Bank has for six continuous days intervened the market to avoid strong fluctuations in the dollar change.
