Colombia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a fourth straight month as a construction boom sustains demand amid a slump in the price of crude oil. The bank also said it won’t buy more dollars. The seven-member board left the overnight lending rate at 4.5 percent, Governor Jose Dario Uribe told reporters after the meeting. The decision, which was unanimous, was forecast by 28 of 29 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, with one economist predicting a quarter-point cut. “Internal demand continues to show healthy dynamism with close to full use of productive capacity,” Uribe said, reading the bank’s policy statement.
