Colombia’s Finance Ministry paid bondholders a reported COP536 billion, about US$162 million, to exchange COP19.8 trillion, about US$5.98 billion, of government debt due within 14 months for bonds stretching as far as February 2062. The swap doesn’t reduce the debt stock. It shifts near-term repayment pressure into longer obligations and includes a premium for bondholders.
Who Receives the Payment
The ministry took back five TES bond lines. The two largest were COP8.8 trillion, about US$2.66 billion, due 17 March 2027, and COP7.8 trillion, about US$2.36 billion, due 3 November 2027. The other lines were COP1.5 trillion, about US$453 million, due 20 October 2026; COP900 billion, about US$272 million, due 17 November 2026; and COP755 billion, about US$228 million, due 26 January 2027.
The Treasury delivered COP19.6 trillion, about US$5.92 billion, in exchange, across 12 bond lines maturing from July 2027 to February 2062. Its largest new line totals COP3.8 trillion, about US$1.15 billion, and matures in January 2035. The dollar figures use the 2 October closing exchange rate of COP3,312 per US dollar.
The Finance Ministry put the transaction’s cost at COP536 billion, or 2.7% of the amount exchanged. That’s the reported price of shifting the payment schedule. The operation doesn’t cancel the state’s obligations to bondholders.
The State’s Debt Schedule
Finance Minister Miguel Gómez Martínez said the operation aimed to “manage refinancing risk proactively and improve liquidity management.” He said the swap leaves Colombia better placed for that year’s fiscal challenges. The ministry reported that scheduled repayments in 2027 are set to fall by COP17.4 trillion, about US$5.25 billion, while the coverage also reported a COP2.4 trillion, about US$725 million, reduction in repayments in 2026.
The average life of domestic debt rose from 9.97 to 10.17 years. Near-term repayments fall, but longer payment obligations remain: replacement bonds run as far as February 2062. The transaction changes when the state must pay, not the total debt stock.
A report in July said Colombia’s next government faced a debt wall of US$175 billion by 2030. The swap rearranges payments against a debt outlook that the July report described as a major future burden.
Investors and the Next Swaps
Investors submitted COP14.7 trillion, about US$4.44 billion, in offers for the competitive tranche, which placed COP11.3 trillion, about US$3.41 billion. The ministry accepted 77% of the amount bid. A noncompetitive tranche added COP8.5 trillion, about US$2.57 billion; Semana reported that COP5.6 trillion, about US$1.69 billion, came from the ministry’s Public Credit and Treasury directorate.
All 13 firms in the TES market-maker programme participated, alongside local and foreign investors. Market makers are banks and brokers that commit to quoting government bond prices every day. Investor bids exceeded the amount placed by about 30%, and Bank of America issued an overweight call on Colombian bonds in late September.
The ministry has scheduled further swap windows for 22 October and 19 November 2026, but it hasn’t published target sizes or said how far the programme will extend into 2027 maturities. Bloomberg Línea’s table showed about COP3.18 trillion, about US$959 million, of new bonds maturing from July to September 2027; the ministry hasn’t said whether that amount is netted from its COP17.4 trillion figure for 2027. As of 3 October, the ministry’s statement had not appeared on its news page.