My current financial experience with sending remittances from Colombia to Venezuela

Greetings to all my fellow Hive members who are active in this community. I recently discovered this space dedicated to finance; therefore, this is my first post. If I make any mistakes that violate the community rules, I apologize in advance and welcome any constructive feedback.

I currently live in Colombia and frequently send money to my mother, other relatives, and even friends in Venezuela. What does this have to do with my post? Well, it's no secret that inflation in Venezuela is worsening every day. I want to clarify that I'm not trying to get involved in politics, but rather to explain how this situation is currently affecting me financially when sending money to Venezuela.

The point is that while the dollar in Venezuela is skyrocketing, the opposite is happening in Colombia. For quite some time now, the dollar has been falling, and judging by current trends, this trend could continue.

How does this affect me?

I want to use annual statistics to clarify. Exactly one year ago, on January 21, 2025, the dollar closed at 4,308 Colombian pesos. Today, January 21, 2026, a year later, due to strategic shifts in the country's financial policy, the dollar is trading at 3,665 Colombian pesos, representing a significant difference of 642.71 pesos per dollar.

Now let's get to the real point of the analysis. To send money to Venezuela and have it arrive in bolivars, I inevitably have to spend Colombian pesos pegged to the dollar—our long-standing financial intermediary—not physically, but digitally. This means that a year ago, fewer dollars were needed to buy the pesos required for the shipment compared to today.

Practical shipping example: Let's assume a shipment equivalent to $10 to Venezuela, which a year ago was equivalent to 43,080 Colombian pesos. This will be our fixed reference in pesos for this example.

• $10 x 4.308 (dollar/peso exchange rate January 21, 2025) = 43,080 pesos
Then a year passes and I want to exchange $10 again to get 43,080 pesos, but I encounter the dollar's devaluation; now those $10 are no longer equivalent to 43,080 pesos but to $36,650 pesos.

• $10 x 3.665 (dollar/peso exchange rate January 21, 2026) = 36,650 pesos
This means that, to send the same amount in pesos to bolivars today as a year ago, I must buy approximately $11.75, that is, $1.75 more.

• $11.75 x 3.665 (dollar/peso exchange rate January 21, 2026) = 36,650 pesos (approximate, for an exact figure)

In terms of bolivars:

$10 a year ago:
10 x 55.22 (reference dollar/bolivar exchange rate 1 year ago) = 552.2 bolivars

$10 today:
10 x 346.83 (reference dollar/bolivar exchange rate today) = 3,468.3 bolivars

This clearly demonstrates the magnitude of the inflationary process affecting the Venezuelan economy.

So far, I have used examples of small amounts, but if we scale this up, the impact is even more noticeable. For example:
• $200 x 4.308 (dollar/peso exchange rate January 21, 2025) = 861,600 pesos
• $200 x 3.665 (dollar/peso exchange rate January 21, 2026) = 733,000 pesos

Based on this scenario, today I would have to buy approximately $235.08, that is, $35.08 more, representing a difference of approximately 128,600 Colombian pesos.

This is an important financial point for those of us who send remittances from Colombia. However, as with everything in economics, there is also another side to the coin. This context can represent a good opportunity to save in dollars, since buying currency at these levels is attractive. At other times, the dollar has been even lower; I remember when I arrived in Colombia in 2018, the dollar was trading around 2,800 pesos, and today I regret not having bought any at that time.

If someone had bought, for example, $5,000 back then, they would have invested 14,000,000 pesos. Had they sold those dollars in January of last year, when the price reached 4,308 pesos, they would have earned 21,540,000 Colombian pesos, generating a return of 7,540,000 pesos—a considerable profit for a long-term savings strategy.

This time around, I might consider buying dollars again. However, with a possible change of government coming up, we don't know how the exchange market might be affected, so I prefer to wait a while, assess the situation, and more calmly consider a potential purchase.

Credits:

• English is not my native language, so I'm using https://www.deepl.com/es/translator

• All statistical data was taken from google.com at the exact time the post was written.