Colombia’s 2016 Full-Year GDP Up 2%, Free-Trade Exports Improve Year-on-Year
Colombia’s national economic statistics agency (DANE) announced February 22 that gross domestic product (PIB in Spanish initials) grew 2% year-on-year in 2016, down from 3.1% in 2015.
Financial services (up 11%) and real-estate (up 3.2%) led all growth categories, while construction jumped 4.1% and industrial manufacturing rose 3%, according to DANE.
Colombia has seen 17 straight months of GDP growth, according to DANE director Mauricio Perfetti del Corral.
However, the mining sector saw a decline of 6.5% year-on-year in 2016, aside from coal mining (up 5.8%) and gold mining (up 6%), according to DANE.
The transport sector saw a decline mainly because of a drop in oil pipeline construction – the result of the global collapse in oil prices in 2015.
Agriculture and cattle/fish production rose 0.5% year-on-year, led by coffee production (up 5.4%), rice production (up 42.7%), fresh vegetables (up 11.7%) and fruits (up 4%).
Meanwhile, 2016 exports from Colombia’s free-trade zones rose 46.7% year-on-year, to US$3.09 billion – a huge increase from the modest 1.1% growth in 2015, according to DANE.
