The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will present in Bogotá, the second edition of its report Panorama of Productive Development Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2025, in which it placed special emphasis on the opportunities and challenges that Colombia faces to ensure high, sustained, sustainable and inclusive growth, because the region runs the risk of entering a third lost decade.
The announcement will be made ahead of the 2026 elections. With such data, ECLAC puts current issues on the table such as the productive development policies that the country must implement, emphasizing what Colombia should do and how it should do —both at the national and subnational levels— to get out of the trap of low capacity to grow. This is with the objective that these policies are part of the programmatic proposals of the presidential campaigns that begin..
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According to the Commission, the country has fallen behind the global path, despite the per capita growth of Colombia’s GDP, which has exceeded the regional average in the last decade. According to the World Bank, In 2016, Colombia reached a GDP per capita equivalent to 90% of the global GDP per capita, while in 2024 it had dropped to 89%. By 2025, it is expected to reach 85%.
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In its 2025 edition, the ECLAC report highlights four priorities to promote a new generation of productive development policies: increasing productivity —which decreased by 3.3% in the region between 2014 and 2024—, reinforce science, technology and innovation policies, promote productive coordination through cluster initiatives and move towards a green and inclusive development model.
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A central dimension of the conversation will be the subnational approach, the Commission noted. The presence of representatives from Bogotá, Boyacá, Santander and Antioquia at the announcement event seeks to show that the productive transformation must be built from the territories, with strategies adapted to their local realities.
VALENTINA DELGADILLO ABELLO
Portfolio Journalist
