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Banco de la República has now held the rate steady since cutting it by 25 basis points to 4.25% at its April meeting.

Compared to June, the consumer price index fell by 0.13% — significantly below the consensus forecast.

The decision to maintain the current rate was approved unanimously by all seven members of the board of the Banco de la República.

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.”

After cutting the benchmark interest rate to 4.5% in January, the central bank board "considered the cycle of rate reductions had been completed," says Echavarría

The consumer price index (IPC) rose by just 0.24% from February to March, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 3.14%, down from 3.37% in February.

This figure represents a 5.4% increase compared to the $5.5 billion USD in revenues in 2016.

This was worst performance in eight years — below even the sluggish 1.96% growth of 2016 — and represents the third lowest rate this century.