Bogotá, Colombia

The relatively large depreciation of the Colombian peso to the US dollar during 2002 has posed a challenge for Colombian monetary policy. From end-2001 to end-2002 the USD/COP rate of exchange depreciated by some 20.0 percent,1 while consumer prices during the same…

In the last years, there have been a series of changes related to global trends in the supply of financial services. These trends include economic integration, technological change, increased competition, disintermediation, deregulation and financial crises.1 Colombia has not been apart from…

In 1995, when contagion from the tequila crisis was spreading in Latin America, both Chile and Colombia were exempt from contagion and presented high rates of economic growth. Several analysts attribute this positive performance to the fact that both had undertaken prudential measures to avoid…

In the early nineties Colombia carried out a trade liberalization program within an economic openness program (Apertura), which resulted in considerable lower tariffs and the elimination of non-tariff barriers. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) the rates were lowered significantly…

The July 2003 Financial Stability Report stated that the pick-up in credit growth resulted from positive behavior by both credit supply and credit demand. These developments intensified over the second half of 2003 and, combined with a more favorable external environment, allowed the financial…

Published in "Critical Issues in International Financial Reform", Albert Berry & Gustavo Indart (editors) Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ & London, UK 2003.

This paper exploits the long history of the minimum wage in a relatively stable developing economy like Colombia in order to see whether it may alleviate the living conditions of low income families and reduce income inequality. The paper does not only explore how the minimum wage may serve this…

The previous Financial Stability Report showed that solvency had improved not only for credit establishments but also for firms and households, which are the system’s main counterparts within the real sector. Specifically, the Report described how the financial system’s solvency had recovered…

One of the main functions of the Central Bank is to ensure that the economy's payment system operates on a firm and efficient basis. The stability of the financial system is essential to this task. For this reason, the first edition of the Financial Stability Report was published by Banco de la…

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether developed countries export taxes to developing countries, contributing to the deterioration of their terms of trade and welfare. Developing countries have become increasingly integrated into world commerce. Since the beginning of the 1990”s most…