Drama at Colombia’s central bank

The decision by Colombia’s central bank to hike its policy rate by 100bp, to 11.25%, at Tuesday’s meeting has been overshadowed by Finance Minister Germán Ávila's withdrawal from the MPC due to disagreement over how to quell inflation pressures. But despite rising tensions between the Petro administrations and the central bank, we think that, with the hawks on the Board still in the majority, BanRep will continue its tightening cycle at the next couple of meetings.