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Though 3.16% is slightly above the 3.13% figure recorded in April, this marks the third straight month of negligible change to the year-over-year inflation rate.

The European Union has been one of the main financial supporters of Colombia’s peace process in recent years, and this week it pledged an additional $17.5 million USD (€15 million) to the effort. These funds, according to an E.U. statement, are intended to “scale up concrete...

The credit line replaces the pre-existing similar arrangement and Colombia will continue to see the funds as precautionary.

“We are now part of the big leagues," said Colombian President Juane Manuel Santos.

Among South American nations, only Chile (up 24.3%), Bolivia (21.9%), and Uruguay (16.1%) outperformed Colombia this quarter.

Duque says that tax reform to cut the corporate rate below 30% is one of the ways Colombia can get back to 5% annual GDP growth.

This quarterly GDP growth represents an uptick from the meager 1.8% full-year growth in 2017 and is well above the 1.3% growth in the first quarter of 2017.

Though the rating is unchanged from the New York agency’s previous assessment, the status quo represents positive news for a country where economic growth has slowed.

While this was just 0.01% below the rate recorded in March, this represents the fifth straight month of decline.

The central bank board cited the “weakness of the economic activity and uncertainty over its pace of recovery.”