The government of Colombia has announced plans to roll out a CBDC as soon as possible. Colombian’s CBDC plans are the new monetary policy measures and aim to improve the transparency of financial transactions, an official said in an interview with Semana magazine.
The head of the Colombian Tax and Customs National Authority, Luis Carlos Reyes said that Colombian President Gustavo Petro would seek to create a digital currency to prevent illegal financial activities such as tax evasion.
“A line of defense against a widespread use of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins is weaker in Colombia than in other jurisdictions and the discussion about the adoption of a retail CBDC becomes particularly interesting,” stated Hernando Vargas, a technical deputy governor at the central bank of Colombia.
The official did not specify strictly which digital currency would be used by the Colombian government, a CBDC or more specifically an asset-backed national currency, such as Venezuela’s Petro digital currency project.
In addition, Colombia is not the only country preparing to release the CBDC. For instance, Russia, the UK, China, the EU, Brazil, etc., have announced plans to release their CBDCs within the next few years.