MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Markets fall in Colombia due to uncertain future under Petro

Petro has made no announcement yet regarding his future cabinet

Colombian markets Tuesday took a tumble ahead of President-elect Gustavo Petro's announcement regarding his future ministerial cabinet, as uncertainty prevailed all over the country.

Shares of the state-owned Ecopetrol fell 11.92% due to investors' fears about the post-electoral situation, while the US dollar went up 4.5 % earlier in the day, although it fell somewhat a few hours later.

This fall may be due to the change in commodities policies announced by Petro during his campaign since the leftist leader wants to move “from an extractivist economy to a productive economy” while stopping further oil explorations in the country.

Former Senator Armando Benedetti, a close Petro ally, blamed “the bad intentions of many media” for the shaky market. He claimed news outlets had misinterpreted the candidate's words. ”He never talked about ending (oil) exploitation, but he did talk about exploration. So here, in order to hurt us during the campaign, they said such nonsense, and what is happening with Ecopetrol is because of the nonsense that other people saw,“ he told EFE.

According to Benedetti, Tuesday's performance at the stock exchange was a ”normal“ situation after every election. When Iván Duque arrived in 2018 ”the dollar went up and inflation shot up,“ but then everything calmed down, he explained.

”It has always happened in the country -he assured- every four years it is said that whoever arrives is going to end everything and every four years the indexes go down, and they go up after a month, 15 days, three weeks, when everything calms down,” he went on.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC) issued a statement Tuesday supporting the future head of state: “He knows Colombia,” the FNC said. ”He will know how to work hand in hand with the coffee sector (...) in long-term policies focused on sustainability and profitability,“ it went on.

Volatility is expected to continue since there has not yet been any ministerial announcement from Petro, who disappeared from the public scene after Sunday's victory.

”The mood of this Government what it wants is to seek consensus, to seek scenarios of dialogue with a single objective, to seek a national agreement on some fundamental issues in which Petro will be the ruler of all Colombians“, Benedetti pointed out.

During his campaign, Petro has already met with the economic groups to show them his willingness to dialogue, Benedetti added. ”We talked to the businessmen and told them: 'if we win we are going to keep these scenarios and these spaces for dialogue and everything that is going to be done is going to be agreed with you',” he said.

The new government is to take office on August 7. In the meantime, transition teams are to meet with officials from the outgoing Duque administration.