Primera Página – Agencia de Noticias –
Bogotá.-The president of Bbva Colombia, Mario Pardo Bayona, told Primera Página that he expects this Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Directors of Banco de la República to reduce the interest rate by 25 basis points or even more.
This Wednesday the Board of Directors of the Issuer will hold its monetary policy meeting, and Pardo Bayona, expects the downward trend in interest rates to continue. «We have seen how inflation has been correcting in recent months, therefore, for us it would be very positive if tomorrow there is a reduction in rates. Hopefully it will be more than the 25 basis points of December».
Pardo also referred to the fact that with the lowering of rates, banks will move to a good portfolio, to which he said: «indeed. The year 2023 was the most complicated year for the financial sector in the last 20 years. We were affected by two factors that are totally related. The sharp rise in rates caused all the fixed-rate portfolios to go into losses, the deliberate portfolios, the long-term mortgage portfolios. And, secondly, the rate hike slowed the economy and effectively caused us to have very significant portfolio roll-offs.»
And he added: «Fortunately, the sector entered the year 2023 with very strong solvency and capital levels and we are absorbing those portfolio bearings with perfect normality. But, effectively, for this year, the best thing that we can do is to get the best out of it,» he said.
