Central Bank Launches New MONEX System

The Central Bank this week put into effect its new Foreign Currency Negotiation Market (MONEX) system, a digital platform on which the Central Bank, authorized banks and other financial agencies trade currencies in the wholesale market.

The new system is part of the Central Bank’s push to reform Costa Rica’s monetary system by liberalizing the colón.

The Central Bank put into effect last month a new exchange rate regime in which the colón fluctuates more freely against the U.S. dollar, inside of a currency band (TT, Oct. 13).

The new MONEX system replaced the old MONED system, which had been the prevailing system since 1992, and was run by the National Stock Exchange, the daily La Nación reported. MONEX is run by the Central Bank.