The Colombian economy It grew 2% during the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period of the previous year and registers its second consecutive period of recovery, after more than a year of stagnation, the statistical authority reported this Monday.
Although below the projections of financial entities and experts, the economy continues its expansion phase after having had a similar growth in the second quarter of the year of 2.1 percent.
The economic sector that contributed the most to GDP growth During the third quarter of 2024 it was agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing, which represented 1.1 percentage points.
“In the agriculture sector we are seeing some growth that is important for some products” such as bananas, rice, fruits and avocados, explained the director of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), Piedad Urdinola.
Secondly, they supported artistic and entertainment activities, with 0.5 percentage points of contribution.
Another sector highlighted by the statistical authority is public administration and defense, which contributed 0.3 percentage points to the interannual variation.
Colombiathe fourth Latin American economy, thus registers its second period of recovery, after GDP grew just 0.7 percent in 2023.
Petro, the first left-wing president in the history of Colombia, approved a tax reform at the beginning of his government to increase taxes on the richest.
The opposition claims that this punished investment and caused an economic slowdown.
The president also ordered to stop the exploration of new oil wells and is committed to an energy transition, when hydrocarbons represent 52% of the country’s exports.
The most affected sector for this third quarter is the exploitation of mines and quarries, which represented -0.5 percentage points.
“What is generating this fall the most is what is happening with coal,” says Urdinola, an industry in which “inconveniences” have arisen during this last quarter, between “closures, strikes, protests, routes that were taken,” that generated this decrease.
While the Colombian GDP recovers, inflation also registers a gradual deceleration process. This stood at 5.41% in October and is thus close to the 3% goal set by the issuer for the end of the year.
The Ministry of Finance expects that at the end of 2024 inflation will be 5.3 percent.
The OECD estimates that Colombia’s GDP will grow 1.2% in 2024. ECLAC, for its part, anticipates a growth of 1.3 percent.
