Shared Responsibility

Surprising Colombia: A good investment

Hitorically sound

• Colombia was Latin America’s strongest and most stable economy during the 20th century.
• It did not experience a year of negative growth for over 70 years, between the 1930s and the late 1990s.
• It has never experienced hyperinflation and has never defaulted on its international debts or financial obligations.
• From 1970 to 2000, Colombia’s average GDP per capita growth rate was fourth in Latin America, behind Chile, Brazil and Mexico.

Source of energy

• Colombia has vast mineral and energy resources, which are being explored and developed for economic benefit.
• Colombia has over 47 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, of which only 1,632 million have been discovered.
• Currently, Colombia is the fifth largest provider of crude oil and the largest foreign provider of coal to the United States.
• Colombia ranks fourth in the world in palm oil production.

Well connected

• Colombia is an important economic market and a valuable trading partner for the United States. Bilateral trade exceeded 8.84 billion USD in February of 2007.
• Colombia has attracted more than 4 billion USD of direct foreign investment from the United States.
• More than 200 US companies and more than 50 British companies are present in Colombia, becoming allies in the country's development.
• In 2005, total exports to Germany represented more than 300 million USD.
• Between 2002 and 2003, exports to the Netherlands rose by 212%. In 2005, exports to this country represented more than 400 million USD.
• Colombia is the leading Latin American supplier of textiles to the United Kingdom.
• In 2003, textiles and clothing exports to parts of Europe increased sharply- Switzerland went up by 658%, Portugal 573%, Malta 442%, Croatia 403% and Sweden 183%.
• Colombia became Japan’s second largest supplier of flowers, with total sales of 22.4 million USD, in 2003.
• Over half of the flowers sold in the United States come from Colombia.
• Last year, Colombia's flower market-share was 84% in the US and 15.8% in Europe.
• Colombia produces clothing for well-known foreign companies, such as Liz Claiborne, Adidas, Nautica, Levi Strauss, Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hillfiger, Pierre Cardin, Nine West, etc.
• Colombia ranks fourth in the world in drinking water supplies and nickel.

Signs of strength

• Colombia’s GDP growth rate was 6.8% in 2006, 6.8% in 2007 and is invested to be 5.5% for 2008.
• The unemployment has decreased from 15,7% to 10,4 % in the last 4 years, thanks to the creation of 2 million new jobs.
• Colombia has reached its lowest inflation rate in the last 42 years and it maintains low and stable interests rates since 1999.
• Total exports have doubled since 1998. From 2005 to 2006, traditional exports grew 14.0% and non-traditional exports grew 16.0%.
• During 2005, Colombia received the highest volume of direct international investment in its history – over 10 billion USD.
• Last year, Colombian tourism grew by13.5%, while overall world tourism grew by 6% and Latin American tourism grew by 7%.