BOGOTA, March 9 (Reuters) - Colombia will not seek up to
$500 million it had previously planned to issue in external
bonds, the country's director of public credit said on Thursday,
instead focusing on financing from multilateral banks.
Colombia's fiscal plan had included the issue of
international bonds worth some $2.1 billion and financing of
some $3 billion from multilateral banks.
The country issued $2.2 billion in international bonds in
January, with $1.67 billion to be used for 2023 budget needs,
and $533 million going toward partially replacing international
bonds coming due next year.
"We don't have it in mind," public credit director Jose
Roberto Acosta told a forum when asked if the country will issue
more international bonds.
"We have a margin of an additional $400 million or $500
million, we'll evaluate, but for now the rest is multilaterals
and 2023 is all checked in external terms," Acosta added.
The finance ministry has reduced its fiscal deficit target
for this year to 3.8% of GDP, from an original 4%.
"2023 is all resolved in external terms and that allows us
to plan for a very challenging 2024," said Acosta, referring to
market noise over comments this week by U.S. Federal Reserve
Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday that interest rates
would have to go higher and possibly faster to tame inflation,
though he said decisions will depend on data set to be released
ahead of the next Fed meeting in two weeks.
(Reporting by Carlos Vargas
Writing by Nelson Bocanegra and Julia Symmes Cobb
Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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