Colombia To Swap Peso Debt Wednesday

Colombia is to swap up to 22 billion pesos ($9.7 billion) of local currency-denominated debt maturing 2007 to 2012 with longer-dated bonds. The swap, due to take place on Wednesday, continues a strategy by the government to replace more expensive short-term debt and extend out the yield curve for its local-currency paper. The government will exchange up to 8.3 trillion pesos in inflation-linked bonds, maturing 2007 to 2010, and up to 14 trillion pesos of fixed-rate bonds maturing 2007.