Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

Global economy continued to recover in the fourth quarter of 2013, thanks to the added momentum in the developed economies, especially the United States. In the euro area, the economic indicators pointed to low, but positive economic growth. Growth in the major emerging countries of Asia and…

In 2011, the international economic environment was characterized by a high degree of uncertainty brought about by the problems of public or private debt in many of the industrialized countries. The financial conditions in the euro zone deteriorated significantly in the last quarter of the year…

Despite various payment innovations, today, cash is still heavily used to pay for low-value purchases. This paper develops a simulation model to test whether standard implications of the theory on cash management and payment choices can explain the use of payment instruments by transaction size…

Under the view that the market is a weighted and directed network (Barabási, 2003), this document is a first attempt to model the Colombian money market within a spatial econometrics framework. By estimating two standard spatial econometric models, we study the cost of collateralized borrowing (…

Abstract

This document presents an enhanced and condensed version of preceding proposals for identifying systemically important financial institutions in Colombia. Three systemic importance metrics are implemented: (i) money market net exposures network hub centrality; (ii) large-value payment system…

In September 2012 annual change in the consumer price index (CPI), core inflation measures, expectations at different horizons and inflation forecast for December stood around the mid-point of the target range (3%). At the end of the third quarter annual inflation stood at 3.08%, down by 12…

In March 2012, annual inflation was 3.4%. This is 15 basis points (bp) less than the rate recorded in December (Graph A). A decreasing trend in annual inflation started in October, when inflation reached its highest level in 2011 (4.0%).

In June 2012 annual inflation stood at 3.2%, down by 20 basis points (bp) from the figure of March, resuming its downtrend after remaining relatively stable in April and May. From March to June, year-on-year change in the consumer price index (CPI) for food fell from 4.6% to 4.2%, accounting…

External demand during the first half of 2013 was somewhat weaker than expected. In the United States, our largest trading partner, the increase in private spending is being offset partly by fiscal consolidation, which has led to a slight decline in the forecast for that country’s growth. The…

At the end of 2012 annual inflation stood at 2.4%, lower than the long-term target (3%) and within the year’s target range (2%-4%) (Graph A). Fourth-quarter inflation results were lower than average market expectations and also below the rates expected by Banco de la República’s technical staff…