Colombia

After a stagnant performance in 2017, the retail sector gained momentum in 2018, growing by 6.2%. Inflation was near the central bank’s target at 3.2% during the year, and this combined with the government’s December 2018 decision to increase the minimum salary by 6% for 2019 and general improvements in the country’s economic performance have...

Colombia has a well-established industrial base with a presence in a range of products, from processed foods to vehicle manufacturing. While growth rates for some industrial lines have been robust during the past decade, the economic slowdown experienced in 2016 and 2017 stunted industrial development as a whole during those years, adding to...

Although it is affected by a slowing economy, the construction sector remains one of the country’s most important industries. The sector posted negative growth in the first quarter of 2019, contracting by 5.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) compared to a decrease of 0.9% in the same period of 2018. Despite government efforts to subsidise low-income...

Urbanisation is a mega-trend redefining contemporary life in both developed and emerging markets across the world. According to the UN, in 1950, 751m people lived in urban areas; however, by 2018 this number had risen to 4.2bn, equivalent to roughly 55% of the world’s population. By 2050 the UN estimates that this figure will rise to 68%. This...

From 206 BCE to 220 CE, China’s Han dynasty fostered a booming trade industry for silk, a precious commodity in high demand among the elites of the Mediterranean. The Silk Road was the name given to the network of trade routes connecting the East and West at the time. Later, spices and other precious cargo would be traded using the system,...

The real estate industry in Colombia and wider South America has undergone substantial change in recent years, driven by an influx of private capital investments from local and international fund managers, sovereign wealth funds and Canadian pension funds.