Colombia Economy Profile 2009

Economy - overview

Colombia has experienced accelerating growth between 2002 and 2007, with expansion above 7% in 2007, chiefly due to advancements in domestic security, to rising commodity prices, and to President URIBE's promarket economic policies. Colombia's sustained growth helped reduce poverty by 20% and cut unemployment by 25% since 2002. Additionally, investor friendly reforms to Colombia's hydrocarbon sector and the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) negotiations have attracted record levels of foreign investment. Inequality, underemployment,and narcotrafficking remain significant challenges, and Colombia's infrastructure requires significant updating in order to sustain expansion. Economic growth slipped in 2008 as a result of the global financial crisis and weakening demand for Colombia's exports. In response, URIBE's administration has cut capital controls, arranged for emergency credit lines from multilateral institutions, and promoted investment incentives such as Colombia's modernized free trade zone mechanism, legal stability contracts, and new bilateral investment treaties and trade agreements. The government has also encouraged exporters to diversify their customer base away from the United States and Venezuela, Colombia's largest trading partners. Nevertheless, the business sector continues to be concerned about the impact of a global recession on Colombia's exports, as well as the approval of the CTPA, which is stalled in the US Congress.

GDP (purchasing power parity)

$395.4 billion (2008 est.)
$385.8 billion (2007 est.)
$358.9 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$240.7 billion (2008 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

2.5% (2008 est.)
7.5% (2007 est.)
6.9% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP)

$8,800 (2008 est.)
$8,700 (2007 est.)
$8,200 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars

GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 9%
industry: 38.1%
services: 52.9% (2008 est.)

Population below poverty line

49.2% (2005)

Labor force

21.3 million (2008 est.)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 22.4%
industry: 18.8%
services: 58.8% (2005 est.)

Unemployment rate

11.3% (2008 est.)
11.2% (2007 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 0.8%
highest 10%: 45.9% (2006)

Distribution of family income - Gini index

53.8 (2005)
57.1 (1996)

Investment (gross fixed)

24.3% of GDP (2008 est.)

Budget

revenues: $83.22 billion
expenditures: $82.92 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2008 est.)

Public debt

42.8% of GDP (2008 est.)
51.8% of GDP (2004 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

7% (2008 est.)
5.5% (2007 est.)

Central bank discount rate

11.5% (31 December 2008)
11.5% (31 December 2007)

Commercial bank prime lending rate

15.6% (31 December 2008)

Stock of money

$21.58 billion (31 December 2008)
$21.81 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of quasi money

$26.57 billion (31 December 2008)
$27.25 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit

$89.69 billion (31 December 2008)
$85.34 billion (31 December 2007)

Industries

textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds

Industrial production growth rate

0.8% (2008 est.)

Electricity - production

53.6 billion kWh (2007)

Electricity - production by source

fossil fuel: 26%
hydro: 72.7%
nuclear: 0%
other: 1.3% (2001)

Electricity - consumption

52.8 billion kWh (2007)

Electricity - exports

876.7 million kWh (2007)

Electricity - imports

38.4 million kWh (2007)

Oil - production

588,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)

Oil - consumption

267,000 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - imports

12,480 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - exports

294,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)

Oil - proved reserves

1.323 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.)

Natural gas - production

7.22 billion cu m (2006 est.)

Natural gas - consumption

7.22 billion cu m (2006 est.)

Natural gas - exports

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports

0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves

122.9 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

Current Account Balance

$-6.761 billion (2008 est.)
$-5.838 billion (2007 est.)

Agriculture - products

coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables; forest products; shrimp

Exports

$38.55 billion (2008 est.)
$30.58 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities

petroleum, coffee, coal, nickel, emeralds, apparel, bananas, cut flowers

Exports - partners

US 32.1%, Venezuela 16.8%, Chile 4.8% (2008)

Imports

$37.56 billion (2008 est.)
$31.17 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities

industrial equipment, transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, paper products, fuels, electricity

Imports - partners

US 30.5%, China 8.5%, Mexico 8.5%, Brazil 6.5%, Venezuela 4.3%, Germany 4% (2008)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$23.67 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$20.95 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external

$46.4 billion (31 December 2008)
$44.55 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home

$67.23 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$56.45 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad

$13.08 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$10.93 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares

$87.03 billion (31 December 2008)
$102 billion (31 December 2007)
$56.2 billion (31 December 2006)

Economic aid - recipient

$511.1 million (2005)

Currency (code)

COP

Currency (code)

Colombian peso (COP)

Exchange rates

Colombian pesos (COP) per US dollar - 2,243.6 (2008), 2,013.8 (2007), 2,358.6 (2006), 2,320.75 (2005), 2,628.61 (2004)

Fiscal year

calendar year