DAVOS, Switzerland Jan 17 (Reuters) - There is no need to further raise Colombia's benchmark interest rate - which is at a 23-year high of 12% - despite still-elevated inflation, the finance minister said on Tuesday.
Analysts have predicted that more tightening of the rate could be in store because of continued high growth in consumer prices, which finished 2022 at 13.12%, more than four times the bank's long-term target rate.
But Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo, who represents the government on the seven-member central bank board, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that inflation had hit its peak.
"The fact inflation continued to increase in December was problematic, we don't deny that, but I think it was the peak," Ocampo said.
Though the interest rate decision on Jan. 27 will also depend on actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve, Ocampo said he saw no need for further tightening.
"Yes that is my view, the view of the government," he said.
The policymakers have also agreed not to intervene in the peso currency, which depreciated 20.9% last year, he added.
"We discussed on the central bank board and agreed there was no sense in intervening ... that decision holds," Ocampo said. "If anything, the central bank technical team is expecting further appreciation of the exchange rate. I think so far the exchange rate has come to a more reasonable level."
The exchange rate was 4,693.99 pesos to the dollar on Tuesday, after reaching record lows of around 5,000 to the dollar in late 2022.
Ocampo had said in November that the Colombian government could be open to buying Venezuelan state-owned fertilizer maker Monomeros, which is based in the Colombian city of Barranquilla.
So far there is no offer for the company, Ocampo said on Tuesday, but he hopes production of fertilizers will increase overall in Colombia.
For daily Davos updates in your inbox sign up for the Reuters Daily Briefing here. (Reporting by Mark John in Davos Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Vin Shahrestani)
