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Finance Minister Germán Ávila walked out of a central bank board meeting, accusing it of going against Colombia’s national interests and deepening institutional tensions.

Despite opinion polls declaring we are heading for Armageddon, we see various stakeholders increasing the GDP outlook.

Ocampo added that inflation should have slowed in December & this will allow the central bank to cease the tightening cycle.

In mid-November, the Banco de la República forecasted inflation to end both 2018 and 2019 at 3.3%.

While still in line with central bank projects, the uptick brings year-over-year inflation to its highest level since February.

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 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

Banco de la República estimates that GDP grew by just 1.6% in 2017 and maintains “uncertainty over its pace of recovery.”