Peru sol foreign exchange rate holds near 15 year US dollar high

The Peru sol’s foreign exchange rate held near a 15 year high against the US dollar as companies bought the currency to pay income taxes and the central bank purchased dollars to curb gains.

The Peru nuevo sol’s foreign exchange rate was unchanged at 2.6680 per US dollar at today’s close, according to Deutsche Bank AG’s local unit. The currency earlier touched 2.6670, the strongest level since 1997, data from Peru’s financial regulator show.

The country’s central bank bought $75 million in the spot market today after companies sold dollars before an April 10 deadline for annual tax payments. The central bank paid 2.6678 soles per dollar, it said in a statement on its website.

Demand for soles will ease this month as companies “have already bought most of the soles they need” to pay taxes, said Mario Guerrero, an economist at Scotiabank Peru in Lima.

Peruvian consumer prices rose in March at the fastest pace in eight months on increases in the cost of food, fuel and schooling, the national statistics agency said yesterday. The monthly inflation rate accelerated to 0.77 percent from 0.32 percent in February.

The yield on the nation’s benchmark 7.84 percent sol denominated bond due August 2020 rose one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 5.47 percent. The security’s price fell 0.09 centimo to 115.66 centimos per sol.