Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
The reference exchange rate for the lempira against the dollar recorded an unprecedented performance in the previous year.
At the close of 2020, the result was an appreciation of 2.11%, equivalent to 52.20 cents of lempira. This means that the price of the US dollar fell in the country’s foreign exchange market.
According to data from the Electronic Currency Trading System (Sendi) of the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH), on January 2 this year the reference exchange rate was 24.6498 lempiras per dollar and the closing 2020 was 24,127.
This appreciation is historic since the BCH reactivated the foreign exchange system in July 2011.
In 2019, the national currency closed with a devaluation of 1.28%, equivalent to 31.18 cents by going 24,3388 to 24,6506 lempiras per dollar in the Central Bank’s electronic currency auction. As the purchasing power of the lempira was appreciated, the selling price of the US currency fell from 24.82 to 24.29 lempiras per dollar.
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The outcome of the exchange rate policy last year saw a positive balance for the national currency, marked by the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the damage from Hurricanes Eta and Iota on the national economy.
However, the final figure of the reference exchange rate has been contrary to the projections of various sectors. The BCH’s macroeconomic analysts survey in November of the previous year indicated that the nominal exchange rate would close with an appreciation of 1.28%.
In March, when the first cases of covid-19 were recorded in the country, projections were a devaluation of 1.51%. In the first quarter of 2020, the devaluation reached 12.45 cents, going from 24.6498 to 24.7743 lempiras per dollar in the electronic currency auction, which in percentage terms represents 0.5%.
However, the global economic crisis due to the pandemic allowed the strengthening of the main variables involved in the exchange rate; among them, the balance of net international reserves, which on December 24 of the previous year amounted to $ 8,123.8 million, equivalent to 8.8 months of imports of goods and services.
According to a BCH analysis, other factors that contributed to the appreciation of the lempira are the behavior of the exchange rates of Honduras ’main trading partners, as well as the inflation rate.
He stressed that the participation of the banking system in the foreign exchange market was key to meeting the demand for dollars from different economic agents, generating confidence in exchange rate policy.