Colombia Lobbies For Upgrade

Colombia’s finance minister, Alberto Carrasquilla, is due in New York this week to meet with the major ratings agencies to lobby for an improvement in the perception of his country’s risk. Last Friday, the EMBI risk index, a measure of Colombia’s external debt, dropped to its lowest level ever of 162 points. And on the domestic front, Colombian benchmark treasuries due September 2014 were yielding 7.58% at the close of last week, the lowest rate since they were launched in 2004.