Costa Rica News – The price of the US dollar against the Costa Rica Colon reached its highest value in the last two years, following an upward trend which has been noted since March this year.
On November 7 the dollar exchange rate on the wholesale Monex market quoted one US dollar at ¢557.22 colones, falling slightly to ¢557.01 a day later. The upward trend has been maintained without significant changes since the end of March, mainly due to a lower supply of dollars in the market.
The Nacion.com reports that “…Since October 3 and up until today, the value of the US currency has increased by 0.4%, representing an increase of ¢2.28. Existing references prices have replicated this behavior. The exchange rate for sale (price at which the public can buy) is also on the rise. From October to date it recorded an increase of ¢2.41.”
“… In the commentary on the economic situation from October 26 by the BCCR, the company notes that in the past month there was still a deficit balance in dollars. The Central Bank explained that in the first week of October there was a higher surplus seen in the volume of dollars and this is consistent with historical patterns in the exchange market, which have tended to show a greater abundance of foreign currency in the last quarter of the year. However, in the last five months the counter market has been in deficit as the figures show. ”
The Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) – Central Bank, has also been active in the market in recent weeks. In the early days of October sold dollars to avoid market increases.
More recently it has been responsible for selling the dollars to non-bank public sector directly, as it rqequires. In November alone, Central Bank sold US$42.6 million.
The dollar exchange at the BCCR Friday (November 11, 2016) morning is ¢549.34 for the buy and ¢561.98 for the sell.
Source: Nacion.com, From QCostaRica
