Cesar Arias

Director of Public Credit
Ministry of Finance & Public Credit, Colombia

Biography

Cesar Arias is the General Director of Public Credit and National Treasurer of the Ministry of Finance of Colombia since November 2018. He is responsible for the domestic and international funding strategies, risk management programs and treasury operations of the Republic of Colombia. Cesar sits in the board of several state-owned enterprises and represents the nation in several multilateral forums and financial markets.

From 2015-2018, Cesar was the Chief Economist for Latin America in the Global Economic Research and Emerging Markets Departments of Deutsche Bank in New York. In this role, he covered the seven the largest economies in the region and teamed up with strategists to formulate trading recommendations in fixed income, foreign exchange and credit markets.

Previously, César was a Director in the Latin American Sovereigns Group at Fitch Ratings. At the ratings agency, he was the lead analyst for Central American sovereigns (Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Guatemala) and South American frontier markets (Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Suriname).

From 2008 to 2011, César worked as a Research Officer in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC. At the IMF, he conducted a stress test analysis of the Chinese commercial banks and supported technical assistance missions on debt management and capital markets development.

Previously, César served for five years as a Specialist in the Secretariat for Political Affairs at the Organization of American States in Washington DC, where he monitored ten presidential and legislative elections in Latin America.

César holds a Master of Public Administration from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a B.A. on Government and International Relations from the Externado University in Colombia.

Speaker at these events:

Bonds & Loans Andes 2022 - Virtual Conference

• Managing political and economic risks: assessing the impact of macroeconomic headwinds and election outcomes on the investment landscape

Bonds & Loans Andes 2021 - Virtual Conference

• How are Andean sovereigns responding to socio-economic volatility in a post-Covid economy?

Bonds, Loans & Sukuk 24 2020

• Colombia: Response to COVID-19, GDP growth and capital requirements

Bonds, Loans & Derivatives Andes 2020

• Funding growth: How are the sovereigns approaching the capital markets in 2020?