According to the Bank of the Republic, in November the external debt of Colombia reached 180.3 billion dollars, that is, 52.8 percent of the country’s GDP.
This figure represents an increase compared to October, when it obtained 178,096 million dollars, 52.2 percent of GDP, while for November 2021 it amounted to 168,300 million dollars, 53.7 percent of GDP.
The bank also pointed out that in November 2022, the private external debt was 78,822 million dollars, which was equivalent to 23.1 percent as a proportion of GDP.
besides, short-term private debt was 29,379 million dollars and the long-term was at 49,443 million dollars.
While the public debt reached 101,511 million dollars and represented 29.7 percent of GDP.
In the case of short-term public debt, it was 903 million dollars and the long-term was 100,608 million dollars. According to the report between January and November the total external debt was 1,934,854 million dollars.
‘Don’t forget the TES’
In addition, the national government called on investors not to forget the public debt titles issued by the General Treasury of the Nation (TES).
Public Credit, José Roberto Acosta, who participated in the 25th Treasury Congress in Cartagena, pointed out that foreign investors continue to gain importance in the national market even above the Pension Fund Administrators (AFP).
“When we see the composition between external debt and local debt, generally the percentage is 35 percent external debt and 65 percent local debt. If in that local debt we take into account that foreigners weigh more than a quarter, more than half of Colombian financing depends on foreign savings. The great challenge is to increase our domestic savings rates to depend less on external debt”, he said.
In addition, foreigners keep a good portion of the TES, so they added. «That the AFPs do not forget about the TES, it is essential that they eventually recover that weight that they had a few years ago or more than five years ago within their portfolios with public debt.»
The government’s reminder comes after the AFPs have expressed their concerns about the pension reform.
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