Q COSTARICA — The trade winds and the Christmas season flooded the Costa Rican market with dollars, and as a result, the US currency has remained below ¢500 colones for the last eight consecutive days.
The US dollar also registered a slight increase against the colón since the previous Friday, according to data from the Central Bank of Costa Rica’s Foreign Exchange Market (Monex).
This is the lowest figure since 2006, when the Central Bank began keeping records.
At bank branches, the buying and selling price today ranges between ¢481 (Banco Promerica and Scotiabank) and ¢506 colones (Banco CMB) at public and private banks. See the Central Bank’s official listing here.
A low dollar for the foreseeable future
At the close of trading on Monex last Friday, the US dollar was quoted at ¢492.48 colones. The lowest figure in 17 years, according to Central Bank data.
Economic analyst Daniel Suchar pointed out that the behavior of the foreign exchange market is a response to the high availability of dollars in the country.
“With such high reserves and an exchange rate that is increasingly bolstered by the influx of dollars from tourists and the payment of Aguinaldos (Christmas bonuses) by multinationals, we are going to have very low exchange rates for quite some time, possibly between three and six months,” he explained.
The Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) will hold its last monetary policy meeting of the year on December 18. Although a reduction in the Monetary Policy Rate may be announced, Suchar believes this would not cause a rebound in the dollar.