QCOSTARICA – The Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) sold US$53.6 million in the wholesale market, in the last 14 days, to avoid a further escalation in the dollar exchange price.
Prior to these two weeks, the Central Bank had only provided liquidity for US$17.4 million in the Foreign Currency Market (Monex), according to the information published on the BCCR website.
In the session on Monday, October 12, the currency rose closed at ¢ 604.27 compared to the previous Friday, October 9.
With this result, the currency had a slight acceleration, after having little variation the previous week.
At the windows of financial entities, the sale of each dollar to their clients was between ¢608 and ¢611, very similar to the previous week, according to the information provided to the BCCR.
William Porras, an economist specializing in foreign exchange issues, highlighted that the exchange rate situation has been marked by seasonal situations and by the evolution of some economic indicators.
“Interest rates in colones are so low that there are private sector investors who began to change from colones to dollars to obtain better profitability,” Porras added as another element.
The analyst pointed out that October tends to be a low month in liquidity, to which was added the change in the fiscal year closing date, since this year it will be in December, while in previous years it was in September. The change, said Porras, caused fewer businesses to go to Monex in 2020, thus suffering the shortage of foreign exchange.
