Colombia Economy

Following congressional approval of a landmark peace agreement, and a late-2016 tax reform package (see analysis), 2017 looks to be a year of significant promise for the Colombian economy. The country has been on the recovery since the 2014 collapse in oil prices, which predominantly affected exports, government revenues and the exchange rate...

Blessed with a rich cultural and natural heritage, Colombia is also strategically located at the crossroads of South and Central America, and is the only South American country with both Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Moreover, it is something of a contemporary paradox in that it has both a long tradition of democratic institutions and an abiding history of internal political...

The economy has largely outperformed its neighbours in Latin America in terms of GDP performance in recent years. The global economic slowdown has affected growth, yet Colombia’s economy grew by 4.6% in 2014, compared to an average of 1.4% in the region. A settlement with the country’s largest rebel group is expected to lead to a peace dividend for...

In late October 2015 the World Bank released its report “Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency”, which ranked a total of 189 countries worldwide for the ease with which 10 specific business processes can be performed. They are: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering...

Mauricio Cárdenas, minister of finance and public credit, has acknowledged that the Colombian budget for 2016 is under pressure. In November 2015 in a statement to the press he calculated that as a result of the drop in international oil prices the government would face a revenue shortfall of COP20.3trn ($7.5bn) in the period between 2013 and...