The average price of the dollar compared to the colon experienced a new decrease this January 12, which extended the downward trend that has prevailed since mid-2022 and intensified at the end of 2023. Thus, the value of the figure reached a new low in almost a decade.
After this Friday’s session, the weighted average price of the currency in the Foreign Currency Market (Monex) closed at ¢520.19, which represents a reduction of ¢2.3 compared to the same day of the previous week and of ¢0.62 compared to Thursday, January 11. The last time the exchange rate was lower was on February 3, 2014, when it stood at ¢519.12.
During the five days of Monex operations this week, the value of the currency experienced various contrasts, since at the close of Monday it rose ¢2.18 compared to the previous Friday, but from that moment on it began to decline until reaching the current price.
On Friday, the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) delayed the Monex session due to interruptions in the digital signature services and the entity’s websites, caused by connectivity problems of the issuer.
Thus, the session began at 4:00 pm and concluded at 5:00 pm, instead of the usual time of 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm The digital signature service is essential to authenticate transactions in the wholesale market.
In the last 12 months, the colón has experienced an appreciation of 12.8% against the dollar, compared to its value a year ago, when it was trading at ¢596.52 on the Monex and close to ¢600 on the counter. financial entities.
During this Friday’s session, operations for $11.8 million were carried out in 83 purchase and sale operations, a figure lower than the $16.68 million in the 218 operations of the previous week.
Throughout the week, $184.28 million were traded in 919 deals. In the previous week, the first of 2024, $90.12 million were negotiated, which represents a more than double increase in the amount negotiated.
This week, the BCCR resumed purchases to feed its reserves, a common practice in the second half of 2023 that was not implemented in the first week of this year. Between Tuesday, January 9 and Thursday, January 11, the entity acquired $24.61 million in its own operations.
On the other hand, the Central Bank acquired $86.82 million in the exchange market to satisfy the needs of the Non-Banking Public Sector (SPNB) between Monday and Thursday, exceeding the almost $56 million of the previous week, considering that Monex did not It operated on Monday, January 1st for the holiday.
During this week, the surplus in operations at the counters of financial entities also increased. This means that banks, mutuals, financial institutions and exchange houses presented a greater difference in foreign currency purchases over sales.
The previous week, entities bought $505.47 million, while they sold $454.57 million, a surplus of $50.9 million. Between Monday and Thursday of this week, bank acquisitions totaled $615.69 million, while sales amounted to $410.44 million, which means a surplus of $205.25 million, four times greater than last week.
At 5:50 pm on Friday, public banks offered different sales prices for the North American currency. The National Bank sold the dollar at ¢524, the Bank of Costa Rica, at ¢525 and the Popular Bank offered it at ¢528. Similarly, private banks such as BAC San José or Davivienda also presented different prices: the sale was at ¢527 in the former, and at ¢528 in Davivienda.
This Friday, January 12, the weighted average value of the dollar in the wholesale market closed at ¢520.19. (Shutterstock)