The price of the U.S. dollar in Colombia reached its lowest level in 2025, after a week of strong appreciation of the peso, the local currency. Early in the morning, the foreign exchange market set the price of the U.S. currency at 3,838 Colombian pesos, a level not seen since May 2024.
The rebound in inflation in the United States, caused by the knock-on effect of President Trump’s tariffs, as well as the increase in unemployment benefit claims, keep investors on alert regarding the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates, which will be announced next week.
In terms of performance over the past week, the U.S. dollar posted a 1.7% decrease, so that over the past year it still shows an 11.26% drop.
The dollar drops to its lowest level since 2025 in Colombia
The U.S. dollar hit its lowest level of 2025 against the Colombian peso this morning, Friday, Sept. 12. Internal economic tensions in the U.S. market are driving the currency’s loss of value strengthens the peso, which traded at 3,838 against the dollar, although during the morning the rate recovered to 3,903.
Regarding Colombia’s economic situation, the outlook for the rest of the year is relatively optimistic, although there are risks, according to the firm Corficolombia. The Colombian economy is expected to grow 2.6% in 2025, driven by an expansion in private consumption and investment.
Nevertheless, the situation faces fiscal challenges precisely as Congress negotiates the amount of the national budget for 2026. The government has tied approval of the budget to a tax reform that is being systematically rejected by the conservative parliamentary majority, despite the concessions made by the government yesterday.
The dollar began to fall in price on Aug. 28, in a decline that deepened this week due to negative results in some internal aspects of the U.S. economy.
Domestic outlook for the Colombian economy
Although unemployment and inflation figures point to a favorable path in Colombia, as well as expected growth by the end of 2025 thanks to a recovery in private consumption, the outlook still depends on approval of next year’s budget.
In tough discussions in the congressional committees debating the government’s proposal, on Thursday, Sept. 11, Finance Minister German Avila cut the final amount of the state budget for 2026 by 10 trillion pesos (approximately US$2.5 billion).
In the same vein, the minister reduced by the same amount the tax revenue target tied to the new budget, setting it at 16 trillion pesos (about US$4 billion).
Despite these concessions by the Petro government, the opposition rejected the figures, staging a blatant and deliberate lack of quorum in the two committees debating the state’s 2026 accounts.
In this scenario, approval of Colombia’s budget by decree, as happened last year, is becoming increasingly likely. The lack of parliamentary agreement could affect economic stability, as well as the upward trend of the peso in the last months of the year, according to economic analysts yesterday.
The deadline to reach a consensus to approve the budget through parliament ends next Monday, Sept. 15, and for now, an agreement seems distant, as does a new government proposal to achieve a negotiated budget and a tax reform that would curb the rising and troubling public deficit.