After the disclosure of the result of the GDP for the third quarter of 2022, which grew 7% in its annual variation, several unions highlighted the dynamics of their sectors, which they qualified as mostly positive.
(GDP says goodbye to double-digit increases: economy grew 7%).
The branch of activity with the greatest contribution to GDP was commerce, transportation, lodging, and food services, which contributed 1.6 percentage points to the total variation, and grew 8.1% in the quarter.
“Although the 7% growth in the quarter was good, signs of a slowdown in the economy are beginning to be seen. It is also worth noting that commerce was the sector that marked GDP in the quarter, as it has been doing in previous quarters, growing above it”, highlighted Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of the National Federation of Merchants (Fenalco).
Cabal also said that “For this reason, it is essential that the National Government visualize and understand the importance of trade for the country’s economy, and not let itself fall with new reforms and new measures, as planned for next year, with the labor reform.”
(Colombia will meet its fiscal goals in 2022 and 2023, according to the IMF).
From the exporters’ union, Analdex, its president Javier Díaz also saw the result as positive. “Even though the growth in the third quarter is lower than the two previous ones, I think the positive news is that the 7% growth is higher than the expectations that expected lower growth in the economy throughout the second semester,” said.
The president of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce, AmCham Colombia, María Claudia Lacouture, said on the contrary that although it is an important figure, “It is lower than the average that had been occurring throughout the year.”
According to the official, “the trend shown suggests that public-private work that generates employment while making efficient use of resources is vital, because international financial projections indicate that a period of slowdown and volatility is coming.”
A sector that stood out was also construction. Sandra Forero, president of Camacol, highlighted that “despite the challenges of the economy and the current situation, the sector remains an outstanding productive activity with a growth of 13.4%”and he referred especially to the performance of the GDP of buildings, which registered growth and a very positive dynamic, with 19.3%, which according to Forero, “It is a fundamental pillar to promote and preserve economic dynamism.”
From the financial sector, which grew 9.2%, the technical vice president of Asobancaria, Alejandro Vera, said that the GDP data “This is very good news for the Colombian economy”and that “The financial sector, with 9.2%, was one of those that presented the best growth, in line with what continues to be a good dynamic of the loan portfolio.”
(What is coming for Colombia in economic matters? This is what the experts say).
On the other side of the scale, agriculture was the only sector that fell, with a negative variation of -1.4%. the president of the Society of Farmers of Colombia (SAC), Jorge Enrique Bedoya, assured that “This reflects the complications that the sector has been going through, as is the case of the rains, and incidentally it is with the ingredients of a perfect storm, on the cost side, in the increase in credits, the issue of the dollar and interest rates.
For Gustavo Gómez, president of the National Association of Colombian Coffee Exporters (Asoexport) “GDP growth is good news for the country and fills the economic outlook in Colombia with optimism.”
But in relation to the cultivation of coffee, he said, there is an affectation in production, as a result of the rains; however, good international prices continue to have a positive impact on the country’s coffee regions.
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