Colombia Holds Interest Rates and Leaves Door Open for Cut

Colombia kept its key interest rate close to a record low for a fifth month as industry contracts and strikes and protests threaten to disrupt production further. Some policy makers voted to cut borrowing costs.

Banco de la Republica, led by Governor Jose Dario Uribe, held its benchmark interest rate at 3.25 percent, as forecast by all 29 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The rate has only been lower once, when it was held at 3 percent between April 2010 and February 2011.