Economy
Economic overview: Boasting a diversified and stable economy, Colombia
has enjoyed Latin America's most consistent record of growth over the
last several decades. Gross domestic product (GDP) has expanded every
year for more than 25 years, and unlike many other South American
countries, Colombia did not default on any of its official debts during
the "lost decade" of the 1980s. Since 1990, when Bogota introduced a
comprehensive reform program that opened the economy to foreign trade
and investment, GDP growth has averaged more than 4% annually. Growth
has been fueled in recent years by the expansion of the construction and
financial service industries and an influx of foreign capital. Some
foreign investors have been deterred by an inadequate energy and
transportation infrastructure and the violence stemming from drug
trafficking and persistent rural guerrilla warfare, but direct foreign
investment, especially in the oil industry, is still rising at a rapid
rate. Although oil consequently is overtaking coffee as the main legal
export, earnings from illicit drugs probably exceed those from any other
export. Non-petroleum economic growth has been slowing, however, in part
because the tight monetary policies adopted to offset the inflationary
impact of high capital inflows and rising government spending have
slowed local sales and investment. Business confidence also has been
damaged by a political crisis stemming from allegations that senior
government officials, including President SAMPER, solicited
contributions from drug traffickers during the 1994 election campaign.
The slowdown in the growth of labor-intensive industries such as
manufacturing has caused a small rise in unemployment and interfered
with President SAMPER'S plans to lower the country's poverty rate, which
has remained at about 40% despite the expanding economy. Nevertheless,
the booming oil sector, growing foreign investment, and the fundamental
stability of the economy promise to keep growth positive for the
foreseeable future, barring severe, unpredictable shocks from de
velopments in the political or international arenas.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $192.5 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate: 5.3% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $5,300 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture: 21.5%
industry: 29%
services: 49.5%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 19.5% (1995 est.)
Labor force: 12 million (1990)
by occupation: services 46%, agriculture 30%, industry 24% (1990)
Unemployment rate: 9.5% (1995)
Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $24 billion including capital expenditures of $NA (1996
est.)
Industries: textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear,
beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds
Industrial production growth rate: 3.5% (1995 est.)
Electricity:
capacity: 10,220,000 kW
production: 33 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 890 kWh (1993)
Agriculture: coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn,
sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables; forest products; shrimp
farming
Illicit drugs: illicit producer of coca, opium poppies, and cannabis;
about 50,900 hectares of coca under cultivation in 1995; the world's
largest processor of coca derivatives into cocaine; supplier of cocaine
to the US and other international drug markets; active aerial
eradication program seeks to virtually eliminate coca and opium crops by
1997
Exports: $10.5 billion (f.o.b., 1995 est.)
commodities: petroleum, coffee, coal, bananas, fresh cut flowers
partners: US 39%, EC 25.7%, Japan 2.9%, Venezuela 8.5% (1992)
Imports: $13.5 billion (c.i.f., 1995 est.)
commodities: industrial equipment, transportation equipment, consumer
goods, chemicals, paper products
partners: US 36%, EC 18%, Brazil 4%, Venezuela 6.5%, Japan 8.7% (1992)
External debt: $14 billion (1995 est.)
Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $30 million (1993)
Currency: 1 Colombian peso (Col$) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: Colombian pesos (Col$) per US$1 - 1,011.11 (January
1996), 912.83 (1995), 844.84 (1994), 863.06 (1993), 759.28 (1992),
633.05 (1991)
Fiscal year: calendar year
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