Lagarde: Peace improve investment climate and growth in Colombia – La Hora

Washington

The Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, said that peace would “improve the investment climate and growth” in Colombia after meeting in Washington with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Santos Lagarde congratulated “for his unwavering commitment to the successful completion of the peace process, which would improve the investment climate and growth, especially in areas cottages “.

the director of the IMF also expressed support for tax reform, thanks to which” the government will absorb the costs of peace despite the decline in oil revenues. “

Santos and Lagarde reviewed “the latest developments in the world economy, including falling prices of oil and raw materials, and its implications for the global outlook for Latin America and Colombia,” the IMF a statement.

“the performance of the Colombian economy remains strong,” said Lagarde, who praised “the response policy deployed by the government to the sharp decline in international oil prices, consisting of adopting stricter than required by the fiscal rule and tighten monetary policy while allowing the depreciation of the exchange rate fiscal policy. “

According to Lagarde,” the modernization of infrastructure is a key reforms that will improve the country’s prospects in the medium term. “

Santos concludes now a three-day visit to Washington. The Colombian president traveled to the United States at the invitation of President Barack Obama to celebrate at the White House 15 years of the “Colombia Plan” launched by Presidents Andres Pastrana and Bill Clinton in order to generate social and economic revitalization in the country , end the armed conflict and to combat drug trafficking.

Obama announced a new framework for bilateral cooperation with Colombia called “Peace Colombia”, for which he will ask Congress for 450 million US dollars in aid bilateral support to the country upon completion of talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

the resources for this second part of the Colombia Plan will be used to help implement the peace agreement the government Colombia expects to seal with the FARC on March 23.