In his weekly column Cuentas Claras, Mauricio Galindo, economic editor of EL TIEMPO, offers the curious figures around the news that happened in the last 7 days. On this occasion, what the thermometer of the economic growth of the country shows, how Colombian cities are looking from an international perspective, how Colombia’s competitiveness is progressing, and the progress of the so-called orange economy, among others.
(Also read: There have been 8 months in which the country’s household spending has decreased)
Three ways of looking at economic growth
The economic activity in May, compared to that of the same month in 2022, was 0.6 percent higher, compared to the 17 percent increase in May of last yearaccording to the Economic Monitoring Indicator (ISE), of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane).
So far this year, until May, it grew 1.7 percent compared to 10.3 percent in the first 5 months of 2022. And in the full year ending in May, growth was 3.5 percent compared to 11.5 percent a year ago.
(You may also be interested in: The Colombian economy continues to slow down, in May it grew only 0.65% annually)
Bogotá, 13 among 18 cities in the region
Bogota lives a constant process of development. In addition to being the capital of the country, it is the main business center.
arturo garcia
The most livable city in the world is Vienna, according to the ranking of The Economist Intelligence Unit. The least livable, among the 173 that they observe, is Damascus.
Bogotá ranks 13th out of 18 Latin American cities observed by The Economist, of which Caracas is last. The index looks at stability, health, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.
Competitiveness: a landing year after year
This year, Colombia continued to drop in the competitiveness ranking of the Institute for Management Development (IMD). Within 64 countries observed by this Swiss business school, Colombia ranked 52nd in 2019.
By 2020, it dropped to 54. In 2021, to 56. Last year it went to 57, and this year, to 58. In the region, the country surpasses Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. It is surpassed by Chile, Peru and Mexico.
What has become of the Orange Economy
In 2020, like all activities, the covid crisis caused the production of the cultural and creative economy to fall by 12.1 percent. In 2021 it rebounded and grew 20 percent. In 2022 it continued to expand strongly, at a rate of 14.2 percent.
In this way, these segments closed last year 20.5% above their pre-covid level. In addition, its size is 31 percent larger than it was in 2014, according to Dane.
Mauricio Galindo
economics editor
On Twitter: @galmau
