He US dollar was negotiated at closing 7.65 quetzales on averageso that it implied a change of 2.22% compared to the 7.49 quetzales of the previous day, reports Dow Jones.
Taking into account the last week, the US dollar accumulates an increase of 2.28%, therefore in interannual terms it still accumulates an increase of 1.88%.
In relation to previous days, it ended the negative streak of market prices of the last two sessions. Regarding the volatility of these seven days, it presented a behavior visibly higher than the volatility shown by the data from the last year, so that the value experiences greater variations than the general trend.
The specialists of Bank of Guatemala pointed out in the Macroeconomic Perspectives and Performance report that by 2025, the economic outlook of the country is mixed.
While positive economic growth is expected, certain challenges remain that could affect the country’s overall performance.
At the international level, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects positive global economic growth by 2025, driven by the strength of the labor market in advanced economies, the recovery of the services sector and the dynamism of private consumption.
This favorable global scenario could benefit Guatemala through greater foreign trade and attraction of investments. However, the IMF also warns about relevant risks that could affect this growth, such as the persistence of inflation above the target in advanced economies, instability in China’s real estate sector and uncertainty in other regions of the world. These external factors could have a negative impact on the Guatemalan economy.
Regarding the internal scenario, it is expected, based on available data, that the country’s economic growth will be influenced by the performance of its main trading partners, which include the United States, Mexico, the Euro Zone, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.
The growth of these countries, especially the United States, which is Guatemala’s main trading partner, will be a determining factor for the economic performance Guatemalan, the specialists noted in the report.
The quetzal is the legal currency used in Guatemala and was created when the Monetary Law was issued in 1924, when then-president José María Orellana ordered the replacement of the Guatemalan peso.
The Guatemalan currency is currently divided into one hundred cents and in the beginning it had a value of 10 cents above the US dollar until 1980 when it fell to par, recovering months later.
Currently the quetzal is equivalent to 7.50 units per US dollar and 9.25 units per euro, thus becoming one of the 30 monetary units in Latin America and the world to be one of the most invariable.
The body in charge of regulating the creation of the currency is the Bank of Guatemala and today coins of 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents of a quetzal and 1 quetzal are known, while banknotes of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 quetzals circulate.
In its attempts to lower coin production costs, the administration has sought to introduce coins with different materials, such as opting for steel instead of nickel or brass-plated steel.
Regarding the economy, in the last three decades the country had the least volatile growth in three decades compared to other peer and aspirational countries; At the same time, it has managed to keep public debt and the budget deficit stable, although this has not translated into a reduction in poverty and inequality.
Likewise, Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and the highest among Latin American and Caribbean countries, with large indigenous and rural populations affected.
