“It always begins with the money, before people begin thinking of migrating overseas,” believes financial consultant Peter Billings.Īn article published by Gideon Long in the Financial Times (July 9) and titled “Colombians look to Miami as Gustavo Petro’s election sparks capital flight fears,” highlights that realtors are seeing an uptick in business from countries across South America – including Colombia – that have elected left-wing governments over the last year. Having already lost more than 10% of its value this year, and almost 20% since the first post-election trading day, President-elect Gustavo Petro – currently vacationing in Florence, Italy – issued a brief statement on Twitter urging Colombians not to buy dollars as they will be “worth less later.” This ambiguous social media comment will hardly stymie the slide of the peso against the greenback, and despite having appointed economist José Antonio Ocampo as his Minister of Finance more than two weeks ago, investors are worried that Colombians have started “cashing out.”Īs US financial safe havens attract the peso, Colombians are also rushing to renew passports and travel visas issued by foreign governments. The steady devaluation of the peso since the election victory of leftist Gustavo Petro on June 19, has been compounded by fears of an impending US recession, rising inflation, energy and food disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, and host of other domestic and global economic woes.
The Colombian peso was hammered during the early hours of trading on Monday, breaking a new record to one U.S dollar of COP$4,500 pesos.
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