1. Guest Columnist 2. Good news from Colombia and Bogotá-Region
3. BCC News and Upcoming Events
4. Economic Developments
4.1. Gross Domestic Product - GDP
4.2. Economic Monitoring Indicator
4.3. Inflation
4.4. Business Dynamics
4.5. Labor Market
5. Evolution of Foreign Trade
5.1. Exports
5.2. Imports
6. Foreign Direct Investment 7. Sources
A recent study from the World Bank shows that for the last seven decades Argentina has been in recession for longer than any other country worldwide. More than a third of the total years since 1950 have witnessed a decline in our national economy. Despite this, it is known that there are important Argentine companies that have managed to grow and expand internationally, being recognized within and across our borders for their quality and innovation.
This might seem like a paradox, but it´s not. Having faced multiple and repeated economic hardships (high and persistent inflation, banking crisis, foreign exchange restrictions, public debt payment defaults and many others, which gave way to these recessions), pushed us to develop more adaptability and resilient. It gave us the ability to sort out obstacles in a creative way and not be discouraged in the face of adversity, qualities that are particularly valuable in a volatile and uncertain world like today.
This in no way is an invitation to creating macroeconomic instability as a mechanism to strengthen business skills. It would be as foolish as recommending a shipwreck in the middle of the sea to develop swimming skills: there are much less traumatic ways of achieving these results. I only intended to demonstrate that it is important to make the most of everything we have at our disposal; which implies always seeking out the positive aspects –even of misfortunes–, and learning from our failures.
The current national government lead by President Javier Milei is attempting to reorder our economy, and in the first few months has made important progress, like the elimination of the chronic fiscal deficit and low substantial inflation. At the same time, unnecessary regulation is being removed, which harms the private sector and limits its growth possibilities. A “normal” macroeconomic environment is being created in Argentina, which for many nations is something that is taken for granted, but for others it is in good measure a novelty, and is certainly welcome.
I trust that in the years to come, Argentines will be able to apply all the tools that we have acquired in recent decades, which bodes well for the performance of Argentine companies. If many of our
companies managed to grow through adversity, they will thrive in a friendlier environment. If we achieve this, it will benefit our country, as well as all those nations with which we cultivate solid trade, cooperation and friendship ties.
NATALIO MARIO GRINMAN
Argentine
Chamber of Commerce and Services President
Colombia consolidates itself as a reference for 'offshoring' at the international level. Offshoring has become one of the most popular business strategies globally. The country has positioned itself in the region as being the destination for companies to implement this practice due to its beneficial geographic location, which facilitates, coordinates, connects and communicates with crucial markets. For more information, visit the following link.
Export of non-mining goods closes the first semester positively growing by 5.5%. Agricultural and industrial products, such as bananas, polyvinyl chloride, sweets, vehicles and beauty preparations are part of this increase to a total of US$10.5 billion. For more information, visit the following link.
Tourism keeps up the momentum. According to the president of the National Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies, Paula Cortés Calle, in the first half of the year an increase of 8% in non-resident visitors was achieved, with 2.6 million foreigners coming to the country, and an increase of 11 % of Colombians travelling abroad, up to 2.7 million. For more information, visit the following link
Exports to Venezuela reached US$113.8 million, an increase of 25.9%. The opening of the border between Colombia and Venezuela triggered a significant economic reactivation for Norte de Santander and other regions of the country. For more information, visit the following link.
Deforestation in Colombia fell by 36% in one year, marking a new historic low . This is especially good news for the largest tropical jungle in the world, the Amazon, a third of which is located in Colombia. The Amazon is a crucial carbon sink, which means it absorbs carbon emissions that would otherwise contribute to global warming. For more information, visit the following link
Bogotá: a hub for progress and innovation in international higher education. The city is consolidated as a key destination for the exchange of knowledge and the creation of strategic alliances. Bogotá welcomes the 11th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for the Internationalization of Higher Education (LACHEC). This edition brings together academics,
experts and educational leaders from more than 20 countries. For more information, visit the following link.
In 2024, Bogotá saw an increase in the arrival of international tourists of 5.6%. Between January and June 2024, Bogotá received 861,077 foreign visitors. For more information, visit the following link
“Bogotá Cómo Vamos” presented the results of the 2023 Quality of Life Report. The country's capital achieved records of low multidimensional poverty rates and reached historic lows in labor informality. For more information, visit the following link.
GOFEST 2024, the benchmark event on innovation and entrepreneurship in Latin America, and one of the most important entrepreneurial ecosystems in the region, will be held starting August 28th in the Ágora Convention Center. This meeting will bring together the brightest minds of the global entrepreneurial ecosystem under the motto “The Future is Now”, with the objective of driving and connecting the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem of Bogotá and the region. The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce invites all entrepreneurs to visualize, inspire and promote new business ideas and startups. More than 30,000 participants are expected. For more information, visit the following link
The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce expands its coverage in the region. With the purpose of bringing us closer to the business community of Bogotá, the Region and Cundinamarca, our entity will offer businesspeople from the region two new BCC centers in the towns of Cota and Tocancipá, and will modernize the offices in Ubaté. For more information, visit the following link
On August 20th, the first edition of the “Believe in You” forum took place. The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce presents the Network of Women Entrepreneurs “Believe in You”, an initiative that seeks to promote female empowerment and reduce the gender gap to advance Sustainable Development Goal # 5. For more information, visit the following link.
The first meeting on the Popular Economy and Solidarity, +Talante, organized by the BCC, featured the president of the BCC, Ovidio Claros Polanco and the President of the Republic of Colombia, Mr. Gustavo Petro Urrego, along with more than 400 businesspeople who participated in the business and farmers market fair, where sales totaled more than 546 million pesos and created more than 2,440 business opportunities. New synergies were promoted and generated between the national and local Government, the productive sectors,
private actors, microbusinesses/microenterprises and the city in general, to create and implement mechanisms that contribute to the growth and productivity of this sector of the economy. For more information, visit the following link.
During the second quarter of 2024, Colombia's GDP grew 2.1%, an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2023 when the country grew by 0.4%, which means that GDP has grown over the last 3 quarters.
GDP for the second quarter of 2024 was slightly higher than the second quarter of previous years including 2019, totaling 244.9 billion pesos.
The growth of GDP for the second quarter of 2024 is largely explained by growth in several sectors, in particular, the increase in Entertainment and recreational activities and other service activities, which stands out at 11.1%, a sector that had recorded a fall in the last quarter of 2023. Likewise, Agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing showed an increase of 10.2% and this is its fourth consecutive growth quarter. Also noteworthy, Public Administration and Defense recorded growth of 4.8%.
Source: DANE – SDDE
In its monetary policy report of July 2024, the technical team of the Banco de la República projects an economic growth of 1.8% for 2024.
According to the Economic Monitoring Indicator (EMI), in the month of June 2024 an EMI variation of -1.9% was recorded, compared to May 2024, where a drop of -0.5% was recorded.
In June 2024, the activities that showed the biggest annual reduction in EMI were Manufacturing industries; Construction (-3.54%) and Information and communications (-3.49%). On the contrary, the activity that registered the greatest growth was Real estate activities that presented an annual increase of 2.0% during this period.
Bogotá experienced an increase in monthly price variation in July 2024 compared to the same month of the previous year, while in Colombia the monthly variation was slightly higher. In July 2023, the monthly variation in Colombia was 0.50% and in Bogotá 0.51%, while in July 2024 it was 0.20% and 0.23%, respectively.
Table 1. Monthly and annual inflation in Colombia and Bogotá during July 2023-2024.
Source: DANE – Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Annual price variation in Colombia decreased from 11.78% in July 2023 to 6.86% in July 2024, while the annual price variation in July 2024 in the capital shows a reduction of 4.70 percentage points in relation to the same month of 2023, from 11.83% to 7.13%.
With regard to spending divisions in Colombia, for July 2024 these show that the division with the greatest positive variation was Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels with 0.45%. The biggest decrease was in Information and Communication with a reduction of 0.15%. On the other hand, in Bogotá, Alcoholic beverages and tobacco ranked in first place with a monthly variation of 0.55%, followed by Health, 0.50% and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 0.50%. Regarding the
divisions that saw a decrease in Bogotá, the clothing and footwear division presented a negative variation of 0.44%.
Graph 3. CPI monthly variation, by spending division, Colombia and Bogotá July 2024
Bogotá D.C. Colombia
Prendas De Vestir Y Calzado
Transporte
Información Y Comunicación
Recreación Y Cultura
Bienes Y Servicios Diversos
Educación
Muebles, Artículos Para El Hogar Y Para La Conservación Ordinaria Del Hogar
Restaurantes Y Hoteles
Alojamiento, Agua, Electricidad, Gas Y Otros Combustibles
Alimentos Y Bebidas No Alcohólicas
Bebidas Alcohólicas Y Tabaco Salud
Source: DANE - Consumer Price Index (CPI).
With regard to the intervention rate, the main monetary policy intervention mechanism used by central banks to control inflation, Banco de la República continues with a strong policy and is keeping the intervention rate high. However, we also observed that between 2023 and 2024 there was a significant slowdown in inflation thanks to said policy. As a result, the Banco de la República´s board of directors decided to reduce the interest rate to 10.75%. Additionally, the monetary authority in its July/2024 monetary policy report projects total and basic inflation at 5.7% and 5.0% for 2024, respectively.
For the period from January to July 2024, the data shows a slight drop in the number of companies created within the jurisdiction of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, compared to previous years. A general decrease of 3.2% is observed in the total number of companies created for the reference period compared to the same period in 2023, going from 55,502 to 53,723. This is a decrease of 1,779 companies during this period. Considering the same period from January to July, companies created in Bogotá fell by 2.9%, from 45,195 in 2023 to 43,863 companies in 2024, and in 59 municipalities these fell by 4.3%, from 10,307 in 2023 to 9,860 companies in 2024.
Regarding the annual variation, it is noteworthy that the Legal Person category experienced a positive growth of 5.4% in the number of companies created between June-July 2023 and June-July 2024, while the Natural Person category fell by 6.9%.
Table 2. Evolution of companies created between 2023 and 2024 for the January - July period, by size
Source: Commercial Registry, BCC, 2023 - 2024
Employment has shown an improvement in total occupation compared to the previous year; at the national level, the unemployment rate in June 2024 was 10.3%, 1.0 p.p. lower than June 2023, similarly, the employment rate has decreased 1.1 p.p. in the last year, standing at 57.2% in June 2024. The overall participation rate showed a negative variation of 0.6 p.p. and stood at 63.7% in June 2024, a figure lower than that for the same period of the previous year, 64.3%.
Source: Large Integrated Household Survey - (DANE), Jun 2024
In the case of Bogotá and its metropolitan area, the unemployment rate reached 10.1% for the AprilJune 2024 mobile quarter, which is lower than the 10.4% of the national total for the same period and mobile quarter. The capital shows an occupancy rate of 64.5%, 7.2 p.p. above the national occupancy rate for the same quarter which reached 57.3%. The data shows that more people of employment age are participating in the labor market in the capital (71.7%) than in the country (63.9%).
The number of employed persons in the country decreased by 130,000 from June 2023 to June 2024, while the number of unemployed persons increased by 10.4%, which is 248,000 more people in the condition called no occupation (previously called “unemployed”).
In June 2024, Colombia experienced a drop in its exports of 5.0% compared to the same month of the previous year, Bogotá showed a growth of 6.4%, and Cundinamarca recorded an increase of 28.8%.
Graph 4: Annual variation in Colombian exports in Bogotá and Cundinamarca 2021-2024
Source: DANE, International trade.
In June 2024, Colombia exported $3.8 billion FOB dollars. Bogotá for its part maintained positive growth, reaching $325.3 million FOB dollars for this month. Finally, Cundinamarca experienced an increase in its exports, reaching $229.3 million.
Total exports from the Bogotá-Cundinamarca region in June reached $585 million FOB dollars. The United States stands out as the main export destination, with a total of $234 million FOB dollars, which is 36.4% of the general total. Ecuador occupied second place on the list of export destinations with $46 million FOB dollars, with 7.1% of the total, while Mexico came in third place with 34 million FOB dollars, and with a share of 5.3 %. The United Kingdom and Peru also stood out as relevant destinations with $32 million (5.0%), and $27 million (4.2%) respectively. Venezuela contributed $20.5 million (3.2%) and Spain contributed $19 million (3.0%); Brazil, Chile and the Netherlands contributed with $18 million (2.8%), $17.5 million (2.7%) and $17.4 million (2.7%), respectively, to the region's exports.
Exports to other countries, grouped under "Other countries", represent $177 million FOB dollars, which is 27.6% of the general total, a significant contribution in terms of participation for the month of June 2024.
Graphic 5. Exports according to destination countries. Bogotá – Cundinamarca, June 2024
Source: DANE, International trade.
In June 2024, Colombia's total imports reached $4.6 billion CIF dollars, a reduction of 7.1% compared to June 2023. Likewise, Bogotá showed a reduction in its imports of 5.5% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching $2.3 billion CIF dollars in June 2024. On the contrary, Bogotá's participation in national imports increased, rising from 49.8% in June 2023 to 50.6% in June 2024.
Graphic 6: Imports to Colombia and the Bogotá – Cundinamarca region, June 2023 and 2024
Junio, 2023 Junio, 2024
Source: DANE, International trade.
Cundinamarca also experienced a reduction in imports, reaching $368 million CIF dollars in June 2024, which is a drop of 15.0% in relation to June 2023. Cundinamarca's participation in national imports dropped from 8 .6% in June 2023 to 7.9% in June 2024.
The Bogotá-Cundinamarca region, recorded imports for $2.7 billion CIF dollars in June 2024, which is a decrease of 6.9% compared to the same month of the previous year. The participation of the region in national imports varied only from 58.4% in June 2023 to 58.5% in June 2024.
Graphic 7. Imports according to country of origin. Bogotá – Cundinamarca, June 2024
Source: DANE, Imports.
The main trading partners were China and the United States. China leads with $633.2 million CIF dollars, representing 23.2% of the total, followed by the United States, which contributes $632 million CIF dollars, also representing 23.2% of the total. These countries represent the majority of all imports into the country (46.4%).
Finally, the "other countries" contributed with $818 million CIF dollars, which represents 30.0% of total imports, which underscores the diversity of import origins beyond the main trading partners.
According to the Treasury, the behavior of FDI in the first five months of 2024 was positive. During this period, a total of US$5.4 billion in FDI were received, a similar figure to that for the same period of the previous year (5.8), but much higher than that received in 2018 and 2019, with US$3.5 and US$ 4.1 billion, respectively.
For more information, refer to the Observatory of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce. https://www.ccb.org.co/observatorio
DANE. National Accounts. Recovered from: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-portema/cuentas-nacionales/cuentas-nacionales-trimestrales
DANE. Labor Market. Recovered from: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/mercado-laboral/empleo-y-desempleo
Commercial Registry, CCB, 2019 - 2020 – 2021 – 2022 – 2023 - 2024. Recovered from: https://www.ccb.org.co/Inscripciones-y-renovaciones/Matricula-Mercantil/Boletines-del-RegistroMercantil
DANE. Social Pulse Survey. Recovered from: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-portema/encuesta-pulso-social
DANE, International Trade. Recovered from: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-portema/comercio-internacional
Banco de la República. https://www.banrep.gov.co/sites/default/files/nota_de_prensa_inversion_directa.pdf
Ministerio de Hacienda https://www.minhacienda.gov.co/webcenter/ShowProperty?nodeId=/ConexionContent/ WCC_CLUSTER-249264
Diario La República https://larepublica.co