Petro Urges Colombians Not to Bet Against Their Diving Currency

(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Gustavo Petro advised Colombians not to bet against the peso after the currency suffered the world’s biggest drop on Monday.

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“To those today who are buying dollars in Colombia, with the greatest respect I have to announce that when you come to sell them again, they’ll be worth less than they are now,” Petro wrote in a post on Twitter. “Watch out! Don’t lose your money.”

The peso weakened 3.7% to a record low of 4,561 per dollar on Monday, the biggest drop among more than 140 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Since Petro won the election last month, it has lost 16% of its value against the dollar, the biggest fall of any currency over that period.

Many Colombians and foreign investors are nervous about some of Petro’s economic plans, including his proposal to phase out oil and coal, which account for about half of the nation’s exports. A fall in crude prices over the last month has also contributed to the sell-off.

All of the 23 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg have weakened over that period amid broad dollar strength. The Colombian peso has led losses among peers, followed by the Chilean peso and Polish zloty.

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