Colombia’s national statistics agency (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica, DANE) announced May 15 that first quarter (1Q) gross domestic product (“PIB” in Spanish initials) grew by 2.2%, a big improvement over the 1.7% PIB growth in 1Q 2017.

The finance/insurance sector topped every other sector at 6.1% PIB growth, followed by 5.9% growth in public administration/defense; 5.6% growth in professional, technical and scientific activities; entertainment/recreation at 4%; wholesale/retail commerce at 3.9%; communications/information sector at 3.1%; and real-estate activity at 2.9% (see chart, above).

Explaining the decline in the construction sector, the sharpest drop was in residential/nonresidential building (down 9.2%), followed by an 8.2% drop in civil engineering and a 6.4% drop in highway/railroad construction, according to DANE.

The dip in the mining sector was blamed mainly on a 17.5% drop in metals mining. However, the oil-and-gas sector saw a slight (0.8%) increase in 1Q 2018 PIB.

The decline in industrial manufacturing was blamed mainly on a 4.6% drop in textile manufacturing and a 4.2% drop in finished metals production.

Over-all, Colombia’s economic output had a value of COP$210 trillion (US$73 billion) in 1Q 2018, up from COP$207.8 trillion (US$72 billion) in 1Q 2017 (as measured in constant 2015 Colombian pesos), according to DANE.