Colombia brought a halt to a record series of interest rate increases on signs the economy is slowing faster then expected.
Six of the seven-member board voted to keep the key rate unchanged at 7.75 percent, the bank’s governor, Jose Dario Uribe, told reporters in Bogota Wednesday, while one voted to raise it to 8 percent. The decision was forecast by 25 of 36 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg with 11 predicting a quarter-point increase. The bank raised the rate 3.25 percentage points over its previous 11 meetings, the longest series of monthly increases since it adopted full-fledged inflation targeting in 1999.
