Economy - overview Boasting a diversified and stable economy, Colombia has enjoyed LatinAmerica'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 Latin American countries, Colombia did not default onany of its official debts during the "lost decade" of the 1980s. Since 1990,when Bogota introduced a comprehensive reform program that opened the economyto foreign trade and investment, GDP growth has averaged more than 4% annually.Growth has been fueled in recent years by the rapid expansion of the oil sector,progress in the construction and financial service industries, and an influxof foreign capital. Direct foreign investment, especially in the oil industry,is rising at a rapid rate. In 1996, oil overtook coffee as Colombia's mainexport. Non-petroleum economic growth slowed, however, due mostly to highinterest rates - the result of high government spending and a tight monetarypolicy - and a real appreciation of the exchange rate. Business confidencewas also damaged by a political crisis stemming from allegations PresidentSAMPER solicited contributions from drug traffickers during the 1994 campaign.The slowdown in the growth of labor-intensive industries such as manufacturinghas caused unemployment to rise to 11.5% by the end of 1996 and interferedwith President SAMPER'S plans to lower the country's poverty rate, which hasremained at about 40% despite the expanding economy.

GDP purchasing power parity - $201.4 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 2.1% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $5,400 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture : 20%
industry: 27%
services: 53% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 21.6% (1996)

Labor force
total: 12 million (1990)
by occupation: services 46%, agriculture 30%, industry 24% (1990)

Unemployment rate 11.5% (yearend 1996)

Budget
revenues: $27 billion
expenditures: $30 billion including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate 4.5% (1995 est.)

Electricity - capacity 10,583,700 kW (1995)

Electricity - production 45.361 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 963 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoabeans, oilseed, vegetables; forest products; shrimp farming

Exports
total value: $10.3 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: petroleum, coffee, coal, bananas, fresh cut flowers
partners : US 39%, EC 25.7%, Japan 2.9%, Venezuela 8.5% (1992)

Imports
total value: $12.4 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: industrial equipment, transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals,paper products
partners : US 36%, EC 18%, Brazil 4%, Venezuela 6.5%, Japan 8.7% (1992)

Debt - external $16.5 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $30 million (1993)

Currency 1 Colombian peso (Col$) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates Colombian pesos (Col$) per US$1 - 1,027.87 (January 1997), 1,036.69(1996), 912.83 (1995), 844.84 (1994), 863.06 (1993), 759.28 (1992)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Colombia on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Colombia Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Colombia Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.