International Allies Newsletter Nº8 Bogotá Chamber of Commerce

VIII COLOMBIA NEWSLETTER International Allies

Bogotá, March 2022 CONTENTS

1.

Guest Columnist

2.

Good news about Colombia

3.

Economic behavior 3.1.

3.2.

3.3.

3.4.

3.5.

Gross Domestic Product Inflation Employment Business Dynamic Social Pulse Survey

4.

Evolution of Foreign Trade

5.

Foreign Direct Investment

6.

Summary of the main economic proposals by candidates for the Presidency of the Republic

7.

Behavior of the Pandemic

8.

BCC news and future events

9.

Sources

1.

Guest Columnist

The energy to propel an entrepreneurship movement is palpable in Colombia. That was a takeawayfrom my recent trip to Bogota, where I had the pleasure of inaugurating the latest hub of the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship.

The initiative, launched in 2020, very much reflects ICC’s mission to make business work for everyone, every day, everywhere by empowering individuals to become business owners andopportunity creators.

The Centre’s mission is to support, prepare, connect, and mobilize the next generation ofentrepreneurs and business leaders, enabling people to build meaningful livelihoods.

At a time of increasing global inequality and acute social and economic challenges in Latin America, ICC and the Bogota Chamber have committed to support small and medium-sized businesses, women-led business, and youth with access to a global set of tools that will help them become entrepreneurs, create new jobs, contribute to their communities, and boost sustainable growth in the region.

My conversations in Bogota, including with President Duque, underscored the great potential for accelerating an already thriving Colombian business community through a focus on smaller business.The impact our work on this front can have on the lives of many is powerful motivation to further expand the Centre in Latin America and globally.

In fact, the hub in Bogota will be connected to an existing network of hubs in Buenos Aires, Istanbul,Beirut, Nairobi, Lagos, Accra, Casablanca, and Jakarta. Collectively, these hubs and those yet to be launched will form what we envisage as the world’s largest entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Universally, the Centre will concentrate on four key tracks of work: inspiring future entrepreneurs,digitizing SMEs, scaling start-ups, and fostering inclusive entrepreneurship – working always with global, regional, and local partners to ensure the programmes offered respond to the needs of the communities they are intended to serve.

This investment in the next generation of business leaders is fundamental to our calling at ICC and isa flagship manifestation of how we at ICC view our purpose as an institution in promoting opportunity for all.

My travels may have taken me back to my base in Paris and other parts of the world, but I am excitedto return the infectious energy I experienced in Colombia with concrete action to enhance the prospects for millions of businesses and young people throughout Latin America.

John W.H. Denton AO, ICC Secretary General

2.

Good news about Colombia

Good news about Colombia

• As a result of President Iván Duque´s visit to Washington D.C. to meet with President Biden, both leaders announced a new scenario for bilateral relations between Colombia and the United States called "Alianza Colombia.” This strategy will include efforts in health, the fight against climate change, and regional security. The meeting also served to commemorate 200 years of the bilateral relationship between the two countries and consolidate Colombia as one of the referents of the Biden administration´s strategy called Build Back Better World (B3W). For more information, see the following link.

• On Sunday, March 13, Congressional elections were held in our country for the 2022-2026 period. Internal Presidential consultations among the parties that defined the candidates for the presidential elections that will take place on May 29 also took place that day. For more information, see the following link.

• Ecopetrol, the largest company in Colombia and one of the leading groups in the mining-energy sector in Latin America, achieved the best results in its history in 2021. Its net profits reached COP 16.7 billion (approximately US $4.45 billion), a figure ten times higher than that registered in 2020. For more information, see the following link.

• To counteract the adverse effects generated by inflation in our country, the National Government defined a 0% tariff on the import of 165 goods for six months. Likewise, for two of these products and for six months, the application of the Andean Price Band System was suspended. For more information, see the following link.

• Between March 7 and 11, the governments of Colombia and the United Arab Emirates advanced the first round of negotiations to achieve a Free Trade Agreement. This would become the first agreement of this nature that the United Arab Emirates signs with a country in the region, allowing Colombia to become this UAE’s gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean. For more information, see the following link.

• On Friday, March 11, the first VAT-Free Day of 2022 was held in Colombia with sales of more than 9.1 billion pesos (approximately US $2.4 billion), exceeding the goal of the National Government. For more information, see the following link.

• The National Government extended until 2023 the benefits of the Vallejo Exprés Plan. This is an instrument for the economic reactivation of foreign trade in our country, which allows temporary imports into the Colombian customs territory with a total or partial exemption or suspension of customs taxes or with the deferral of VAT payment, supplies, raw materials, and some machinery that are used in the production of goods to be exported or that are destined to the provision of services directly linked to the production or export of these goods, or the export of services. For more information, see the following link.

• Within the framework of Colombia's participation in CERAWeek, the world’s most important conference on energy, an agreement was announced between the Mayor of Barranquilla and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to develop the first offshore wind project in Latin America. The project, located in the waters of Barranquilla, will have an investment of US 1 billion, a generation capacity of 350 megawatts, and will allow the mitigation of 23 thousand tons of CO2 per year. For more information, see the following link.

• On March 18, at the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar), the first Ecopetrol electrolyzer in the country was put into operation,

which will allow the production of green Hydrogen. The pilot will run for the next three months and uses industrial water from the refinery to produce 20 kg of high-purity green hydrogen (99.999%) daily. This test will gather information on the operation, maintenance, reliability, and scalability of the technologies used. With this, Colombia sets the goal of consolidating itself as one of the most important hydrogen suppliers in Europe and the United States. For more information, see the following link.

Good news about Bogotá

• On March 15, the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce signed, together with the National Government, the Bogotá Mayor's Office, the Government of Cundinamarca and Corferias, the Memorandum of Understanding through which the District of Science, Technology, and Innovation of Bogotá will be created. This District will have an area of more than 40,000 m2 and will begin operations at the beginning of 2026 in a strategic location for the city's innovation and business ecosystem. Its objective is to position Bogotá – Region as a hub for research, development, and innovation in the region. For more information, see the following link.

• The President of the Republic, Iván Duque Márquez, reiterated that the National Government would soon sign a financing agreement for the second line of the Bogotá Metro. For more information, see the following link.

• Bogotá is the third city in Latin America to be accredited as a Smart Tourist Destination. This distinction is awarded by the State Society for the Management of Tourism Innovation and Technologies (SEGITTUR), an entity dependent on the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Tourism. For more information, see the following link.

• In 2021, Bogotá’s economy grew by 10.3%. This is the most significant annual growth in the last fifteen years. In addition, the increase compared to 2019, the pre-pandemic year, is 3.4%. For more information, see the following link.

• Once more, Bogotá demonstrates at Expo Dubai that it is the city of business and entrepreneurship in Latin America. For more information, see the following link.

• The most outstanding neurosurgeons in the world met in Bogotá during the XVII World Neurosurgery Congress. This edition, which is being held in a Latin American city for the third time in its history, brought together more than 1,500 health professionals from more than 90 countries worldwide and was held between March 13 and 18. For more information, see the following link.

• 2021 was a historic year for capital raising by Bogota startups. During the last year, the startups of the Bogotá - Region carried out 115 operations which amounted to more than US$ 1,596 million, thus increasing 144% compared to the amount raised in 2020. These, which are equivalent to more than 70% of the national total, were concentrated in startups in the

transport, software and IT services, financial services, and communications sectors. For more information, see the following link.

3.

Economic behavior

3.1 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)1

In 2021, the Gross Domestic Product of Colombia (GDP), in its original series, grew 10.6% compared to 2020, and a growth of 2.8% was observed compared with 2019. This shows an effective recovery compared to what was observed before the pandemic. In the case of Bogotá, it is observed that the growth rate of 2021 compared to 2020 was 10.3%, which implies that Bogotá is, for the first time in the last five years, below the national growth with a difference of 0.3 percentage points. However, the capital grew 3.4% compared to 2019, showing that, both locally and nationally, there is a generalized recovery from the pandemic.

Graph 1. Annual GDP growth rate between 2010 and 2021 Colombia and Bogotá 10,6% 10,3%

6,9% 5,1%

4,5% 5,7% 3,6%

3,9% 3,5%

3,9%

4,6%

3,8%

4,5%

3,3% 2,1%

3,0%

2,0%

3,5%

1,8% 1,4%

2,6%

3,2%

-6,5% 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Bogotá

2017

2018

Colombia

Source: DANE. Dirección de Síntesis y Cuentas Nacionales.

1 Source: DANE, PIB Colombia y Bogotá cuarto trimestre de 2021. Publicado el 15 de marzo de 2021

2019p

-7,0%

2020pr 2021pr

It should be noted that, in 2021, all economic sectors presented a positive annual variation in the country, while, in the case of Bogotá, ten of the 12 industries presented growth. The sectors that grew the most compared to 2020 were; artistic, entertainment, and recreation activities and other service activities; household activities (33% for Colombia and 30.9% for Bogotá), commerce, vehicle repair, transportation, accommodation, and food services (21.2% for Colombia and 16.9% for Bogotá), and manufacturing industry (16.4% for Colombia and 20.1% for Bogotá). On the other hand, in the case of Bogotá, the sectors that decreased compared to 2020 were mining and quarrying (1%) and construction (2%).

Table 1. Annual GDP growth rate by sector at constant prices in Colombia, 2019 vs. 2021 and 2020 vs 2021 2019 vs 2021

Concept

2020 vs 2021

Colombia

Bogotá

Colombia

Bogotá

4,4%

4,6%

2,4%

4,4%

-15,2%

-34,0%

0,4%

-1,0%

Manufacturing industries

5,0%

3,6%

16,4%

20,1%

Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning; water distribution; sewage, waste management, and environmental sanitation

2,4%

0,9%

5,1%

3,2%

-22,6%

-29,8%

5,7%

-2,0%

Wholesale and Retail; vehicle repair; Transportation and storage; Accommodation and food services

4,6%

1,1%

21,2%

16,9%

Information and communications

8,3%

10,4%

11,2%

13,2%

Financial and insurance activities

5,8%

5,7%

3,4%

3,4%

Real estate activities

4,1%

3,0%

2,6%

1,6%

Professional, scientific, and technical activities; Administrative and support service activities

3,7%

1,7%

9,7%

8,6%

Public administration and defense; compulsory affiliation with social security; Education; human health and social services

7,1%

5,7%

6,9%

5,9%

Artistic, entertainment, and recreation activities and other service activities; household activities

17,9%

18,5%

33,0%

30,9%

Gross Domestic Product

2,8%

3,2%

10,6%

10,3%

Agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry, and fishing Exploitation of mines and quarries

Construction

Note: the sectors that grew the most are highlighted in black, and those that decreased the most are highlighted in red Source: DANE. Dirección de síntesis y cuentas Nacionales. PIB a precios constantes con año de referencia 2015

3.2 Inflation

For February 2022, inflation stood at 1.63%, while in the case of Bogotá, it was 1.68%. This has been the highest variation for February since 2003, the initial year of the series published by DANE, which means that the country has experienced a price variation of 3.33% during the year to date. For Bogotá, the value of this increase is 3.24%.

Considering that the inflation projections published by the Central Bank’s monetary policy report for January 2022 showed expectations close to 4.3% for the entire year, the current advance in prices shows that in 2 months, 77% of that expected by the Bank has been achieved.

Table 2. Monthly and year-to-date inflation in Colombia and Bogotá during February 2022

Monthly Variation

Variation year to date

Annual Variation

Colombia Bogotá

Period Colombia

Bogotá

Colombia

Bogotá

February 2021

0,64%

0,56%

1,05%

0,91%

1,56%

1,01%

February 2022

1,63%

1,68%

3,33%

3,24%

8,01%

7,03%

Source: DANE - Índice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC).

Regarding the sectors that presented the most significant variation in their prices, both in Bogotá and in Colombia (Graph 2), the following stand out: (1) education, (2) food and non-alcoholic beverages, (3) restaurants and hotels, and (4) furniture, household items and ordinary home maintenance, which contributed 1.09 pp to the change in inflation in Colombia.

It should be clarified that the variation in education prices is circumstantial due to the start of university and college classes since these indicators are usually indexed to the previous year's inflation, which closed at 5.62%. However, the behavior of the variation of food and non-alcoholic beverages stands out, which continues to grow above 3% for the second consecutive month, implying that in the first two months of the year, it has increased by 7%.

Graph 2. Monthly variation Consumer Price Index (CPI) Colombia and Bogotá February 2022 Colombia

Bogotá, D.C. 4,48% 4,14%

Educación 3,26% 3,38%

Alimentos Y Bebidas No Alcohólicas 2,22%

Variación mensual IPC

Restaurantes Y Hoteles

2,74% 2,60% 2,64%

Muebles, Artículos Para El Hogar Y Para La Conservación Ordinaria Del Hogar 1,13% 1,36% 1,26% 1,35% 1,18% 1,15% 1,23% 0,98% 0,77% 0,84% 0,83% 0,64% 0,71% 0,57%

Transporte Bienes Y Servicios Diversos Salud Prendas De Vestir Y Calzado Bebidas Alcohólicas Y Tabaco Recreación Y Cultura Alojamiento, Agua, Electricidad, Gas Y Otros Combustibles Información Y Comunicación

0,04% 0,12%

Fuente: DANE - CPI

3.3 Employment2

For 2022, the National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE, made a series of changes in the methodology for calculating the main employment indicators and the variables reported. Among the new changes are the following: 1.

2.

3.

4.

New information collection framework derived from the 2018 national census.

New population projections based on the 2018 census.

New conceptual and methodological approach to questions and data collection.

There are new information modules such as peasant and farmers’ self-recognition, LGTBI+ population, taxes, population with disabilities, and author cities presented without their metropolitan area.

The unemployment rate in Colombia in January 2022 was 14.6%, while that of the same month of 2021 was 17.5%, which implies a decrease of almost three percentage points.

The information available for the analysis of the labor market in Bogotá allows us to observe that, in the moving quarter from November 2021 to January 2022, unemployment stood at 13.9%. However, comparisons with previous years cannot yet be made.

Source: DANE, Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares (GEIH). Recuperado de: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-portema/mercado-laboral/empleo-y-desempleo 2

New population groups:

According to the new measurements, the unemployment rate of the LGBT population in Colombia during the quarter from October to December 2021 reached 12.8%, while the non-LGBT population presented a rate of 11.5%.

The population with disabilities also presented an unemployment rate higher than that of the population without disabilities.

In contrast, the first population group reached an unemployment rate of 13.0% in the last quarter of 2021; the people without disabilities had a rate of 11.5%. Regarding the rural population, this population presented an unemployment rate of 9.0%, while the non-peasant population presented a rate of 12.5%.

3.4 Business Dynamic

In 2021, just over 85 thousand companies were created in Bogotá and the 59 municipalities of the jurisdiction. The creation of companies increased by 13% compared to the same period in 2020. Of the total number of new companies registered, 68% correspond to individuals and 32% to companies. By sectors, the one that grew the most was the services sector by 18%, followed by industry that increased by 15% and commerce that grew their registrations by 6%.

Bogotá and Cundinamarca continued with a stable process of recovery in the number of active companies, having 470,579 active companies in 2021. Likewise, 404,054 active companies were registered in Bogotá, accounting for 85.9% of the total in the region. The number of active companies increased 5% compared to 2020.

Based on the above, the business dynamics consolidated 470,579 active companies in 2021. However, some challenges remain to reach the level observed in the same period of 2019 when there were 501,086 companies in the jurisdiction, which indicates that there is still a need to recover 30,507 companies to restore the existing business fabric in 2019.

Table 3. Active companies for 2021 (comparison 2021 with 2020 and 2019)

Municipality

Jan - Dec (2019)

Jan - Dec (2020)

Jan - Dec (2021)

Variation 2019 - 2021

Variation 2020 - 2021

Bogotá D.C.

436.942

384.352

404.054

-8%

5%

Jurisdiction 59 municipalities Cundinamarca

64.144

61.722

66.525

4%

8%

Total, Bogota - Cundinamarca jurisdiction

501.086

446.074

470.579

-6%

5%

Source: Registro Mercantil, CCB, 2019 - 2020 - 2021. La consulta de la información empresarial del Registro Mercantil se realizó el 1 de enero de 2021-Qlik Sense.

3.5 Social Pulse Survey Consumer Confidence Indicator (CCI)

This indicator is made up of 5 questions that seek to know the behavior of the household economy, the perception of the behavior of the economy in general, and the consumption capacity of durable goods. The results are for the national total. This way, Graph 3 shows that, in January 2022, the Consumer Confidence Indicator (CCI) stood at 35.9% in the total of 23 cities, decreasing 3.4 percentage points with respect to December 2021 (39.3%). The graph shows a sustained drop in confidence since October 2021, with a loss of 4.3 points.

Graph 3: Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) - Monthly series - 23 cities 40,2% 39,1% 39,1%39,3% 36,2% 35,1%

34,6% 34,3% 34,1% 33,9% 33,8% 33,6% 32,5% 32,3%

35,9% 30,7%

2020

2021

Enero

Diciembre

Noviembre

Octubre

Septiembre

Agosto

Julio

Junio

Mayo

Abril

Marzo

Febrero

Enero

Diciembre

Noviembre

Octubre

Septiembre

27,9%

Agosto

Julio

28,9%

31,8%

2022

Source: DANE, (2022). Encuesta Pulso Social, febrero 2022.

• In January 2022, 46.4% of families in the 23 cities reported that their situation was worse or much worse than 12 months ago, while in Bogotá it was 48.7%. This is a gap of 2.3 percentage points (p.p). between the nation and Bogotá.

• Bogotá decreased by 0.2 p.p. the percentage of households that considered their situation worse or much worse 12 months ago between December and January. The nation increased it by 0.9 p.p.

• Regarding the next 12 months, in the 23 cities, 36.4% of households consider that their economic situation will be better or much better, while in Bogotá it will be for 21.7%. This represents a gap of 14.7 p.p. between Bogotá and the total of 23 cities.

• In the 23 cities, 63.8% of the families stated that they did not have greater possibilities to buy clothes, shoes, food, etc.; for Bogotá it was 68.5%. This represents a gap of 4.2 p.p. between Bogotá and the 23 cities.

4.

Evolution of Foreign Trade

Exports3:

Dynamics of Colombian exports: Exports in the country and the Bogotá region show significant recovery. In recent months, growth rates have been higher than in the period before the pandemic, which consolidates the country and the region as an attractive destination for investment. In January 2022, Colombia's external sales, including oil and its derivatives, amounted to US$3,781.6 million FOB, which represents an increase of US$1,170.7 million compared to the same period in 2021, that is, an increase of 44.8% in the country's exports. Similarly, the level of exports exceeded the same period in 2020, standing at US$362.2 million FOB above, thus registering an increase of 10.6%.

Graph 4. Colombian exports January 2020 - 2022

FOB USD millions 2020

2021

2022

3.419,5

2.610,9

3.781,6

Source: DANE – EXPO

Dynamics of exports from the Bogotá – Cundinamarca region: Exports originating in Bogotá went from US$ 195.4 million FOB in January 2021 to US$ 222.5 million FOB in January 2022; this represents a growth of 13.9%. On the other hand, exports in Bogotá grew by 51.1% compared to January 2020, going from US$147.2 million FOB in that year to US$222.5 million in 2022, this represents a biennial increase of US$ 75.3 million in exports from Bogotá.

In the case of Cundinamarca, an increase of 57.2% was observed in exports in January 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, going from US$121.4 million FOB in 2021 to US$190.8 million FOB in 2022. Like Bogotá, Cundinamarca exceeded the export levels presented in the pre-pandemic period, since in January 2020 exports were registered for US$ 162.2 million FOB.

3

Source: DANE, Exportaciones. Enero 2022. Recuperado de: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/comerciointernacional/exportaciones

In January 2022, Bogotá is the fourth department with the highest export levels in the country with 8.8% of the country's total exports and is surpassed by Antioquia, La Guajira, and Cesar, which represent 18.0%, 12.8 %, and 10.7%, respectively, of total exports. On the other hand, Cundinamarca is the fifth largest exporting department in Colombia, participating with 7.5% of the country's total exports. This makes Bogotá - Cundinamarca the second largest exporting region in the country, representing 16.3% of the country's total exports.

Graph 5. Bogotá – Cundinamarca region exports (without oil and its derivatives) January 2020 – 2022 147,2

FOB USD Millions

2020

162,2

195,4

2021

121,4

222,5

2022

190,8 Bogotá

Cundinamarca

Source: DANE – Exportaciones enero 2022 4

Imports :

Dynamics of imports from Colombia: In January 2022, imports from Colombia amounted to US $6,050 million CIF, thus presenting an increase of 58.3% compared to the same month of 2021. This behavior was mainly due to the increase of 59 .5% of the goods belonging to the Manufacturing segment. On the other hand, when comparing this figure with the same month of 2020, a growth of 39.7% is observed.

In January 2022, Manufacturing imports participated with 75.4% of the total CIF value of imports, followed by Agricultural products, food, and beverages with 13.4%, Fuels and extractive industry products with 11.2% and other sectors 0.1%.

Dynamics of imports in the Bogotá – Cundinamarca region: By January 2022, imports from Bogotá amounted to US$2,839 million CIF, which represented an increase of 54.6% compared to the US$1,838 million CIF registered in 2021. In total, the capital participated with 46.9% of the national total, occupying the first place in the total imported by departments.

Additionally, Bogotá had a contribution to the national annual variation of 26.2 percentage points.

For its part, by January 2022, Cundinamarca presented an increase of 64.4% in its imports, going from US $347 million CIF registered in January 2021 to US $571 million CIF this year. In this way, the department participated with 9.4% of the total imported by the country, ranking third at the departmental level, behind Bogotá and Antioquia. Cundinamarca presented a contribution to the national annual variation of 5.9 percentage points.

4

Source: DANE, Comercio internacional importaciones. Enero 2022. Recuperado de: https://dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-portema/comercio-internacional/importaciones

5.

Foreign Direct Investment

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Tourism of Colombia, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stood at US$1,563 million in the accumulated from 2022 to the month of February. This means an increase of 47% compared to the same period (January-February) of the previous year.

For its part, investment in mining-energy sectors stood at US $1,083 million as of February 2022, which represents an increase of 39.4% compared to the same period in 2021. FDI in non-mining-energy sectors amounted to US $480 million in the same period, which represents an increase of 67.6% compared to the same period in 2021.

Additionally, foreign portfolio investment in the accumulated from 2022 to February amounted to US $133 million, while a year ago it was negative by US $606 million. Finally, Colombia's direct investment abroad for the period January-February 2022 was negative by US $105.1 million.

Graph 6. Foreign Direct Investment. Period January – February (2014-2022)

Source: Banco de la República-Balanza cambiaria en Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo. Febrero 2022.

6.

Summary of the main economic proposals by candidates for the Presidency of the Republic

Methodological note: This is a summary of the document that has been built based on more than 700 proposals made by the candidates in press news, debates, programmatic plans, pronouncements on social networks, among others. The compilation of these proposals contains the pronouncements of the candidates since January 1, 2022. These proposals may change as the electoral contest progresses. Efforts have been made to transcribe them with the greatest fidelity to the original text or declaration of the candidate to avoid their editorialization.

Proposals Candidate Name: Sergio Fajardo

Political Party: Alianza Social Independiente. Winning candidate of the Centro Esperanza coalition.

Mathematician from the Universidad de los Andes, Master and PhD of Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Master from the Universidad de los Andes. Currently, he is a professor at the School of Government and Public Transformation of the Technological Institute of Monterrey, Mexico. Mayor of Medellín for the period (2004 – 2007). In 2010, he was the vice-presidential candidate for Antanas Mockus. Governor of Antioquia for the period (2012 – 2015). Candidate for the presidency of the republic in 2018 by the Colombian Coalition Source: https://sergiofajardo.co/quien-soy/ Macroeconomic and fiscal policy •

Promote a new tax structure that has more progressive taxes (paid by people with higher incomes and wealth), fight against evasion and eliminate inefficient tax exemptions and benefits. The goal is to collect an additional COP 33 billion, bringing tax revenue as a percentage of GDP to the Latin American average.

•

Level the playing field between companies, eliminating all exemptions that do not have a proven socially desirable effect, such as job creation. Eliminate exempt income and differentiated rates for mega-investments, the hotel sector, and the orange economy.

•

Reduce the general income rate of companies, in accordance with the good results in terms of tax collection.

•

Establish healthy taxes (on sugary drinks, junk food, raising the tax rates on cigarettes) that will contribute, from prevention, to reducing the burden of disease that directly impacts the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, the increased risk of develop some types of cancer and the higher prevalence of diabetes, among others, discouraging its consumption. The taxes that apply to plastic bottles will also be expanded.

Strengthening of the business fabric 1. Strengthen formalization programs for companies.

2. Promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the business sector, through transfers of science and technology applied to companies and through entrepreneurship programs.

3. Create the Colombian Agency for Innovation Industries (ACINN), which integrates the activities of different state agencies to support innovative developments and research applied to the challenges of productive change.

4. Create a program for small businesses called PROMIPYME, in alliance with local governments, ACOPI and the Chambers of Commerce. Promote the formalization of one million MSMEs, allowing them to have access to associative lines of credit and lines of training and entrepreneurship.

5. Create the National Entrepreneurship Network, which integrates incubators, accelerators, technology parks and venture funds (such as the Emprender Fund) so that more companies flourish, especially in strategic sectors.

Job creation It places special emphasis on generating employment for young people and women, together with educational training programs for work.

1. Offer educational and employment alternatives to at least 50% of young people who today neither study nor work (1.6 million) and seek to close gender gaps.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Reduce the youth unemployment rate to 10-13%, which implies generating around 690,000 formal jobs for young people, through three main elements: i) educational opportunities; ii) employment options, and iii) alternatives to unpaid care work.

Create the youth employment program to increase labor productivity.

Review and adapt training programs for work, with relevance and quality, seeking for employers to obtain the human capital they require for their companies.

Promote the National Qualifications Framework to integrate formal and non-formal training routes, promote shortterm modular training that accredits the training of skills in each course so that people accumulate them in their employability backpack. These accreditations will be recognized if the person chooses to enter higher education programs.

Increase the number of students in qualified training, only in the programs demanded by the regions and areas with the best job prospects in the next 10 years.

Productive sectors 1. Cultural and artistic sector: a. Renew the commitment of the State with the promotion of artistic and cultural practices with a perspective of integrating populations that have not benefited from the programs and incentives of cultural policy. b. Maintain incentives for the creative industry from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Tourism, diversifying and making the strategies pertinent and effective.

2. Agriculture, industry, and commerce: a. Increase exports in the medium term, making agriculture and industry return to the share they had in GDP when the economy began to open thirty years ago.

3. Mining: a. Promote formalization programs in small-scale mining based on the modernization and adjustment of differential legal processes and instruments in this area. b. Carry out a Great National Mining-Energy Dialogue with the purpose of overcoming the social conflict around the sector. c. Establish the environmental licensing stage for the mining exploration phase.

4. Transport a. Accelerate the execution of strategic projects that develop multimodality in the country. b. Prioritize urban mobility and the use of sustainable modes of transport. c. Develop tertiary routes, based on the productive vocations of each territory, to boost the country's competitiveness and export vocation.

5. Tourism a. Build the policy of social tourism and construction of hotel infrastructure. b. Reform the institutional framework of the sector.

6. ICT a. Create the Agency for the Digital Transformation of Education. b. Build a large public-private collaboration network to support the training and education of people, of any age, in skills and aptitudes for the fourth industrial revolution.

c. Implement training programs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEAM) Pensions 1. Make the transition to a pillar-based pension system in which up to two minimum wages are contributed to the public pension fund. From two minimum wages and up, contributors will make their individual savings with the participation of private pension funds.

2. Evaluate elements to increase pension coverage: i) the purchase of weeks, ii) the early pension, and iii) the incentives to continue contributing.

3. Carry out a pension reform as part of a set of programs for a more dignified old age in Colombia, granting an allowance of $500,000 to the three million older adults who currently do not have a pension.

Health 1. Strengthen health promotion and disease prevention programs, hand in hand with first level care centers, capable of solving up to 80% of needs.

2. Transform infrastructure in health. Existing facilities will be improved and modernized and those under construction will be completed to prevent white elephants.

3. Promote direct contracting with the employer without outsourcing companies that currently hire about 80% of health personnel.

Social Inclusion 1. Adjust according to the increase in the Consumer Price Index all conditional and unconditional monetary transfers.

2. Increase to one million young people enrolled in the Youth in Action program.

3. Provide housing solutions to 1.2 million families through annual goals of 80,000 rate coverage subsidies through the Mi Casa Ya program, 20,000 rural homes, 100,000 improvements, including microcredit subsidies, 50,000 property titles property and 50 thousand leases.

Rodolfo Hernández

Political Party: Liga de Gobernantes Anticorrupción (LIGA) Studies and experience: Civil engineer from the National University, has more than 43 years of experience in the business sector, focused on the housing construction sector. He was mayor of Bucaramanga from January 1, 2016, to September 10, 2019.

Source: https://www.ingrodolfohernandez.com/historia/

Macroeconomic and fiscal policy The candidate's proposals related to fiscal issues revolve around improving the forms of State contracting and building healthy public finances. In this sense, the candidate has proposed: 1. Design a monitoring process for public contracting that guarantees transparency in public competition processes.

2. Create a clear and transparent framework to set fuel prices.

3. Carry out reforms to the formula for calculating the value of fuels and gradually remove part of the tax burden.

On the other hand, regarding the adjustments that should be made in the country's tax structure, the candidate proposes:

1.

2.

3.

Citizens with incomes below $2 million will not pay income taxes, and a progressive scale between $2 and 10 million will be implemented.

There will be no tax reform in his government, understanding it as the one that raises tax charges on the population indiscriminately.

Lower VAT from the current 19% to 10%.

Strengthening of the business fabric The candidate's proposals related to the business fabric revolve around promoting new sectors, reducing entry barriers for new entrepreneurs, and promoting new financing schemes. In this sense, the proposals of the candidate are the following: 1. Allow the self-financing of entrepreneurial projects for people who are outside the labor market, due to age or occupation, with part of the resources they have accumulated throughout their economic life in pension savings.

2. Transfer 5% of the result to the investment in CT+I in the process of control and rationalization of public spending.

3. Present a law that allows crowdfunding (collective financing) as a source of financing for SMEs, startups, and enterprises.

4. Expand access to credit for small and medium-sized businesses; in addition to intervening the high tax burdens that impede competitiveness. Newly established companies will be exempt from tax burden until they achieve a balance.

5. Implement policies to reduce credit costs. Provide banking to rural families so that they can access credit with lowinterest rates, in search of modernization to sustain their crops and harvests.

6. Encourage entrepreneurship among young people by establishing initiatives of not paying taxes, until they complete three years of operation and sustained performance.

7. Reduce entry barriers for new entrepreneurs, simplifying and reforming the structure of procedures, taxes, and renewal costs, among other processes.

Job creation The candidate's proposals focus on generating incentives to increase the employment of young people, people who live in the countryside, and the articulation of the State and companies.

1. Strengthen the relationship between University - Company - State, through the promotion of alliances with economic incentives.

2. Strengthen links with the productive sector to improve the conditions and permanence of employability of young people.

3. Design an incentive and investment policy in the countryside so that there is development and a decent life that direct jobs generate. It proposes promoting initiatives such as the self-construction of integral villages and tertiary roads by the rural population.

Productive sectors The main economic sectors that are part of the candidate's proposals are Agriculture and rural sector, tourism, industry, foreign trade, transportation, and digital industry.

1. Agriculture and rural sector:

a. b.

2.

3.

Promote an agricultural law that prioritizes the use of inputs of national origin, particularly fertilizers.

Maintain existing subsidies and create the necessary ones, to balance the costs of the Colombian peasant with foreign producers.

Tourism a. Support digital tourism initiatives, accompanied by regulations that provide security to tourists. b. Work on training for tourist attention, especially in bilingualism. c. Promote initiatives for the industry to design rates that do not exclude national tourists. A significant reduction in the value of tickets will be arranged with the airlines, while new air transport companies will be invited to expand the commercial offer and connections in Colombia. d. Promote international tourism with various approaches: medical, aesthetic, ecological, special crops, cinematographic and festivals and carnivals.

Transport and logistics a. Develop the platform electric vehicles to be a reality in our country, which will lower transportation costs. b. Support the construction of underground trains in large cities and the tram system in intermediate cities. c. Promote and stimulate the financing and execution of the Fifth Generation (5G) Program and guarantee the continuity and completion of the 4G. d. Promote the improvement of river and port infrastructure to increase the volumes of cargo transported and reduce costs.

Pensions 1. Reform Colpensiones (public pension fund) to allow it to capture savings so that it can compete with private funds in generating investments.

2. Grant a pension to all older adults, regardless of whether they have met the requirements in force until today, in the form of a basic income, in addition to support to cover health issues.

3. Authorize the return of small balances in BEPS (Periodic Economic Benefits) with the counterpart or State subsidy.

Health 1. Create a model of family medicine, focused not only on the need, but also on the responsibility of the patient himself 2. Deepen the national price control policy for the pharmaceutical industry, building a database on the real value of medicines with reference to international indicators.

3. Invest in science and technology with a competitive criterion to stimulate the national drug industry.

Transversely, the agreements made with the business sector to support scientific research must have a special chapter on science and technology applied in the drug industry.

4.

Develop a census of addicts to hallucinogenic substances in terms of public health and create care centers for them.

Social inclusion 1. Review the scope of all subsidy programs, so that the intelligent financial structuring of the basic income allows the central government to optimize resources without sacrificing coverage.

Ingrid Betancourt

Party: Partido Verde Oxígeno Studies and experience: political scientist and specialist in foreign trade and international relations at Sciences Po (Paris-France).

Former adviser to two ministries during the presidency of César Gaviria (1990-1994). She was a member of the House of Representatives for Bogotá (1994-1998), and a Senator of the Republic (1998-2001). She was a presidential candidate in 2002, but on February 23, 2002, she was kidnapped by the FARC until July 2, 2008, when she was rescued by the National Government in a military operation.

Source: https://www.lasillavacia.com/elecciones-2022/

Macroeconomic and fiscal policy She highlights the importance of maintaining the autonomy of the Central Bank. Therefore, she ensures that macroeconomic and monetary policy should not be a political instrument.

1. She does not propose a tax reform in the first three years of her term but says one would be presented the fourth.

2. He will put an end to the system of political corruption, a system that causes us to have a fiscal deficit today of more than 23 billion dollars.

3. Make it easier for citizens to pay taxes and give certainty to companies. The idea is a simplified, friendly, and digital fiscal system.

Strengthening of the business fabric Among her proposals for strengthening the business fabric, the reduction of labor costs for companies, the promotion of women and youth entrepreneurship, and the digitalization of all processes for small and medium-sized companies stand out: 1. Promote large investment projects of foreign companies that come to bet on the future of the Colombian people.

2. Reduce the high social benefits for salaries and reduce formalization costs.

3. Grant credits to young people and women so that they can create their own companies in coordination with universities to generate feasibility studies.

4. Expand the presence of digitization centers for SMEs and, in particular, for micro-enterprises.

5. Incentives for SMEs will be essential to encourage the entry of new workers into companies.

Job creation 1. She highlights the need to create jobs through a subsidized credit policy for young people and especially young women who can support the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

2. Create a digitized system that allows access to credits not based on capital, but on hours of work that can be performed.

Productive sectors 1. ICT a. She emphasizes the need for Colombia to insert itself into the new economies of the third millennium, such as: communication technologies and digital technologies.

2. Environment a. The way to mitigate pollution and deal with climate change will be through compensation with carbon credits. Colombia will be a major exporter of this type of credit, reforesting oxygen-generating ecosystems.

3. Agriculture and rural sector a. Title land to provide peasants with economic means and thus consolidate peace in Colombia.

4. Infrastructure a. Proposes to promote and advance 4G and 5G infrastructure projects. b. Strengthen tertiary roads and develop rail infrastructure projects to boost the economy.

Pensions 1. She has pointed out the need to carry out a reform that includes an increase in the age required to retire.

2. She argues that the current system is financially unsustainable and unfair to the youngest. Bearing in mind that the population pyramid is changing rapidly, this modification is essential.

Health 1. Allow Colombians who are in extreme poverty access to the best health by giving doctors remuneration according to their salary.

2. Make health a particular service for Colombian women, as they are the ones who most need support, especially in relation to reducing paperwork.

3. Reduce waiting times and delivery of medicines for care once diagnoses are made.

Social inclusion 1. Unify subsidies and build a system that is transparent, that does not go through politicians, and that doesn’t have intermediaries so that people can access basic income simply with their ID. Gustavo Petro

Party: Colombia Humana. Winner of the Pacto Histórico coalition consultation.

Studies and experience: Economist from the Externado University of Colombia, has a specialization in Public Administration from the Higher School of Public Administration (ESAP), was part of the M-19 guerrilla until 1990, was a member of the House of Representatives for Cundinamarca as a member of the Democratic Alliance M-19 (1991-1994), diplomatic attaché in Brussels (19941996), member of the House of Representatives for Bogotá with the Vía Alterna Movement (1998-2006), senator for the Polo Democrático (2006-2010), Mayor of Bogotá (2012 to 2015), former presidential candidate and senator of the republic from 2018 to the present.

Source: http://especiales.semana.com/elecciones-presidenciales-2018/candidatos-hoja-de-vida/gustavo-petro.html Macroeconomic and fiscal policy 1. Strengthen public and cooperative banking and democratize access to credit.

2. Restructure the composition of the Central Bank´s Board of Directors to ensure that it is independent, not only from political powers but also from the financial powers so that it can represent the nation in the management of monetary policy. The productive organizations of the country should have a presence in the Central Bank if we want to fulfill

constitutional mandate that monetary policy encourages not only price control, but also social equity, production, and job creation in Colombia.

The candidate's proposals are focused on strengthening public spending associated with education, poverty alleviation, reduction of some taxes, among others. In this sense, the proposals in fiscal matters are as follows: 3. Proposes a structural tax reform that contains the following axes: a. Make the income tax progressive, even reducing its rate, but removing exemptions. This means that small and medium-sized companies pay less. The maximum income tax rate will be 25% b. Make the income tax on natural persons more progressive, associated with greater growth in the tax on dividends. c. Revive the presumptive income for the payment of taxes to landowners, encouraging production, as well as for those who have capital in tax havens. d. Reduce VAT in general to 15%, but with greater reductions for goods with high levels of nutrients within the family basket, to reduce hunger. e. Increase taxes on the consumption of fossil fuels and grant subsidies that stimulate the use of clean energy sources.

Strengthening of the business fabric 1. Develop a social pact to recover the economy, work and productivity with environmental sustainability that has as its axis the empowerment of the popular economy, of the social and solidarity economy, with a strong feminine aspect.

2. Strengthen the cooperativization of agribusiness in the hands of agricultural producers.

3. Selectively use the import substitution mechanism, reintroducing a gradual and differentiated protectionism through tariff measures, thus giving prevalence to national production.

4. Advance in a legislative package that guarantees an industrialization process, prioritizing the creation of industries with environmentally sustainable technological packages and the generation of circuits or productive social chains where local communities actively participate.

5. Advance a series of reforms aimed at guaranteeing access to credit, especially for small and medium-sized companies, as well as to avoid the various abuses that occur from the private financial system against citizens.

Job creation 1. Issue the Labor Statute ordered by the 1991 Constitution to protect and guarantee decent work, social security, and the rights of association, negotiation, and strike of workers in Colombia and extend labor guarantees, with international standards, to the new jobs created b technological platforms, today sunk in total lack of protection.

2. Recognize women's work, this implies the right to a pension, the right to be in the national accounts, and a State that pays for the child care system and food security in Colombia.

3. Promote the creation of a large national work and employment program for youth in which the generation of public employment will play a leading role through the creation of two million jobs linked to the recognition and redistribution and promotion of care and development work of an aggressive package of public infrastructure works in which the central level and the territorial entities will be articulated.

4.

Promote craftwork with products that encourage research, knowledge, and the appropriate use of plant diversity and incorporate high quality in design and manufacturing, that contribute to dignifying work with strong ethnic and cultural roots. With the new policy, millions of jobs, and productive and stable jobs, well paid and with social guarantees, will be created.

Productive sectors 1. Industry a. Promote new national industrialization processes that strengthen the notion of development from within, in the generation of new schemes that go beyond the vision in which the market produces, and the state distributes. b. Protection of domestic manufacturing from imports through tariff measures. c. Raise tariffs on footwear and textile imports to rebuild the footwear and clothing industry. Added to this is the tariff increase for leather, among other products for agribusiness and food. d. One of the main points to promote the development of the national manufacturing industry is the need to renegotiate all Free Trade Agreements.

2. Transport a. Make a change in the mobility matrix towards rail and electric transport and the programming of the progressive decarbonization of production that should lead to the gradual disconnection of dependence on oil and coal.

3. Mines and energy a. Prohibit oil exploration contracts from the start of his mandate and not renew existing ones. b. Reaffirms the importance of strengthening the national industry to reduce its volatility and dependence on international oil prices. c. Ban fracking and open pit gold mining. d. Convert Colombia into an exporter of clean energy. e. Proposes that solar farms and wind farms should be managed by municipalities and not by foreign capital.

He also maintains that prior consultation mechanisms with populations in which mining projects will be carried out should be strengthened.

Pensions 1. Change the system of private pension funds to one of pillars in which the system of private funds is complementary.

2. The public pension fund, Colpensiones, with contributions of up to four minimum wages as the base income of the contribution, will pay the pensions of current pensioners. Those who earn more than 4 legal minimum wages can contribute, voluntarily, to private pension funds starting from this amount. If there is a surplus in the account of this fund, it will not finance government expenses, it will be the exclusive property of the public fund and its financial returns will become part of the Colpensiones budget.

3. Finance half the minimum wage as a pension bonus for all elderly people who do not have a pension, which amounts to more than three million people.

Health 1. Proposes a comprehensive public health model that prioritizes prevention and prediction over disease care. That implies having as a determinant of health nutrition without hunger, drinking water, breathable air.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Strengthen the public hospital network from the national budget and not from the Health Promotion Entities (EPS), which are private.

The EPSs are restricted to an insurance system for catastrophic illnesses and third-level health insurance and assistance.

Open the doors of insurance to the territorial health secretariats, having a management around managing hospital care through private IPS and the public hospital network.

Create a Single Health Fund to guarantee transparency in the management of resources and that would oversee the collection, administration, payment, and control of resources in binding coordination with the councils and ministries.

Social inclusion 1. Guide the country's efforts to deliver a basic subsistence income as a state policy to those who do not work 2.

3.

4.

5.

or even working, do not earn enough to have a decent life.

Promote the construction and execution of a public policy that controls real estate speculation, promotes the construction of decent housing, addresses the improvement of housing, provides access and subsidies to home public services, including the vital minimum of drinking water and energy to vulnerable communities and generate accessible financing mechanisms, both public and private, for their acquisition.

Implement an Emergency Policy to solve hunger problems to reduce crime which has exploded in the big cities. It can be generated with the national budget, community kitchen policies, and food subsidies, among others. The strengthening of food production is vital for this purpose. If hunger in Colombia is reduced in the short term, crime in the country decreases.

Eliminate stratification as a basis for granting public subsidy.

Promote a set of public policies and regulations aimed at guaranteeing the set of rights to children, youth, and the elderly, assuming the specificities and needs demanded by each of the stages of vital transit.

Federico Gutiérrez

Party: Creemos Colombia. Winner of the Equipo for Colombia coalition.

Studies and experience: Civil Engineer from the University of Medellín, specialist in senior management and political science from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, for eight years he was a councilor of Medellín (2004 - 2011). In addition, he was mayor of Medellín (2016-2019).

Source: https://federicogutierrez.com/quien-soy/ Macroeconomic and fiscal policy 1. Find a way to have rates of 7% so that people can access credit more easily.

2. Propose austerity in spending, there must be an efficient State.

3. Reduce income tax rates to 24% for MSMEs with annual profits of less than COP 500 million.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Make electronic invoicing mandatory.

Expand the wealth tax from 2022 and for a single time, payable in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Also, expand the VAT refund base. Eliminate some VAT exemptions and exclusions on non-essential goods and services and not tax the family basket.

Expand the programs of works for taxes and royalties for taxes.

Strengthening of the business fabric 1. Triple investment in tertiary roads so that peasants and rural entrepreneurs have the conditions to produce and stay on their land.

2. Strengthen competitiveness and increase investment, by increasing economic growth. Similarly, competition must be encouraged to strengthen companies.

3. Stimulate youth employment with incentives for companies to hire young people; Additionally, 10,000 new youth ventures will be supported through the Emprender Fund.

4. Generate incentives and support for the formalization of employment and entrepreneurship of rural women.

Likewise, they will be prioritized in contract farming schemes to guarantee the purchase of their production.

Job creation Seek to boost the country's growth above 5% and generate 1.2 million annual employees to lower unemployment to a single digit. Some of the proposals on this front are: 1. For every COP billion in investments in infrastructure, generate 29 thousand jobs.

2. Improve the employability of young people - mainly high school graduates who are neither working nor studying (33% of the total) through: a. Integrate young people with low educational achievement into job training schemes in sectors with the highest demand (eg electronic commerce, digital services) b. Generate incentives and support for the formalization of jobs of rural women and their enterprises, giving priority to contract farming schemes to guarantee the purchase of their production.

Productive sectors 1. Transport and infrastructure a. Go from an investment of COP 1 billion per year in tertiary roads to COP 3 billion per year so that farmers can get their products. b. Promote the recovery of the navigability of our great rivers and railways. c. Finish the 4G highways and start the first 5G package.

2. Housing a. Build one million Social Interest Homes (VIS), 800,000 in urban areas and 200,000 in rural areas; in addition, the improvement of 400,000 non-VIS homes. b. Maintain and expand the incentive policy for housing construction, acquisition, and financing. As well as giving priority to young people and women heads of households, so that they can have their own homes. c. Increase the annual resources of the housing sector by 23% to go from COP 5.4 billion in 2021 to COP 7 billion annually between 2022 and 2026.

3. Agriculture and rural sector

a.

4.

5.

6.

Increase agricultural financing from the ICR (Rural Capitalization Incentive) to COP $500 billion annually and concentrate financing from Finagro and the Rural Development Fund on small and medium-sized producers, channeling more resources through cooperatives and NGOs. b. Improve the profitability of small and medium-sized producers with support to close commercial agreements for advance sales at fair prices, especially from peasant associations, fishermen, rural, indigenous, and Afro women, and youth. c. Provide coverage of financial, biological, climatic, and market risks. d. Duplicate the voluntary substitution programs for illicit crops for 200,000 families with technical support for their legal crops and guaranteeing their commercialization hand in hand with businessmen.

Mines and Energy a. Generate the conditions for greater investment in responsible mining-energy projects. b. Reduce deforestation by 54,000 hectares at the end of the four-year period. c. Promote the ecological restoration of 200 thousand hectares and increase protected areas by 200 thousand hectares.

Tourism a. Generate physical and legal security conditions, and incentives for investment in infrastructure and development of world-class sustainable tourism businesses. This includes boosting ecotourism, cultural tourism, agrotourism, meeting tourism, and health tourism. b. Strengthen, through SENA and private educational entities, qualifications at the educational and training levels and labor skills related to tourism. c. Work together with the private sector to generate 400 thousand new jobs in tourism.

ICT a. Carry out the spectrum auction for the adoption of 5G technology in 2023 and accelerate the massification of connectivity and the reduction of the digital divide.

Pensions 1. Maintain and improve the current mixed system, guarantee the increase in system coverage.

2. Create a comprehensive old-age protection system so that 3.5 million adults over the age of 65 who today do not have a pension have access to a minimum income for life that allows us to eliminate poverty among the elderly, which includes improving the Colombia Mayor and BEPS programs.

3. Discuss a structural reform so that the subsidies go to the lowest pensions and not to the highest.

Health 1. Return financial sustainability to the system with the adoption of a pay-per-result model, the implementation of electronic invoicing, and the single digital medical record at all levels.

2. End the lines, thanks to the digitization and articulation of systems and programs, achieving greater efficiency.

3. Implement a comprehensive health care route and a Home Medicine policy to care for and monitor, especially the elderly and disabled, and improve their care and quality of life.

Social inclusion 1. Focus subsidies on the population that truly needs them 2. Integrate and expand the social protection and assistance network to reach 5 million poor households with cash transfers through a single state strategy, gradually replacing the stratification scheme.

3. Guarantee 3 daily meals to the poorest families with "Colombia without hunger", a strategy of public-private partnerships.

4. Expand the coverage of Jovenes en Acción (Youth in Action) program to go from 400,000 to 1,200,000 beneficiaries in 2026.

5. Expand free higher education for strata 1, 2, and 3 to reach 1 million beneficiary students in 2026.

7.

Behavior of the Pandemic

With a cut-off date of April 5, 2022, a total of 81,346,329 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been applied nationwide. In total, 35,693,281 are first doses, 28,622,268 second doses, 10,664,382 booster shots, 6,366,398 single doses and 34,988,666 complete schemes have been recorded. According to the above, more than 69% of the Colombian population already has its complete schedule, and 71% has received a first dose of the vaccine. Through the following graph you can see the rate of vaccination, by date, for the period between January 25 and April 5, 2022.5 Graph 7: Doses applied by date. Period between January 25 - April 5, 2022

Source: Ministry of Health and Social Protection For its part, in Bogotá, with a cut-off date of April 5, 2022, a total of 14,540,568 shots of the vaccine against COVID-19 have been applied. This means that more than 62.3% of the population of the Capital has a first dose of the vaccine and that more than 57.93% have the complete vaccination schedule.

Fuente: Ministerio de Salud y Protección https://www.minsalud.gov.co/salud/publica/Vacunacion/Paginas/Vacunacion-covid-19.aspx 5

Social.

Recuperado

de:

At the same time, with a cut-off date of April 5, a total of 5,029,868 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been applied in the department of Cundinamarca. This means that more than 34.96% of the department's population has received a first dose of the vaccine and that more than 29.11% have completed the vaccination schedule.

Regarding the number of infections, as of April 6, 2022, a total of 6,086,811 cases have been registered since the pandemic began in the country, 5,919,925 recovered, 3,826 active cases and 139,687 deceased. The following graphs shows the evolution of infections and deaths registered in the country due to COVID 19: Graph 8: Daily reported trends of COVID cases and deaths in Colombia

Source: Covid 19 tracker. Reuters. Recuperado de: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-andmaps/countries-and-territories/colombia/ 8.

BCC news and future events

• Between April 5 and 7, the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the National Government, will organize ExpoBIC, the first stage in Colombia dedicated to promoting the business transformation of the country by inspiring, training and connecting the business ecosystem, the sector public and the academy to accelerate and consolidate a new business system with Benefit and Collective interest. To attend and learn more about it, visit the following link.

• Within the framework of the Global Business Forum Latam 2021 that took place between March 23 and 24 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce led a business delegation that included multiple technical visits to learn about the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem of the emirate, identify new allies to promote the business projects

of our entrepreneurs, learn about the investment opportunities that this country offers for Bogotá – Region, and learn about opportunities in terms of knowledge transfer in science, technology, and innovation.

• Until March 31 was the deadline for all businessmen and women in Bogotá - Region registered in the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce to renew their business registry and that of their business establishments. The business registry is the record that certifies the existence of businesses and is the letter of introduction of any businessperson in Colombia. This grants new market opportunities, free access to all the free services offered by the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce (offering products on the Internet, receiving free support from consultants, participating in training, and much more), being a State supplier, and requesting loans more easily, among other benefits. For more information, see the following link.

• To meet the needs of MSMEs in Bogotá and the Region that allow them to improve their value offer and reach

more customers, the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce launched the 2022 version of its Innovation Program for digital, financial, and logistics, with a portfolio focused on specializing and increasing the offer of software and IT companies, financial services, logistics, and transportation, with new lines or business models that respond to the requirements of potential clients, in sectors most affected by the pandemic. For more information, see the following link.

• In the second installment of the concerns of businessmen and women in Bogotá and Cundinamarca in the face

of the next elections, the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce presents an x-ray of how the business fabric of the municipalities where it has jurisdiction is and what challenges are imposed to strengthen it. For more information, see the following link.

• The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce presents the second version of the Economic Reactivation Program for the Fashion industry in the Bogotá – Region. This is one of the eleven flagship programs with a sectoral approach that the BCC will launch in 2022 to consolidate the economic reactivation of the region. For more information, see the following link.

9.

Sources

• For more information, please refer to the Economic Observatory of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce. https://www.ccb.org.co/observatorio • DANE. Cuentas Nacionales. Recuperado de: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/cuentasnacionales/cuentas-nacionales-trimestrales • DANE. Mercado Laboral. Información tema/mercado-laboral/empleo-y-desempleo •

recuperada

de:

https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-

Registro Mercantil, CCB, 2019 - 2020 – 2021 - 2022. Recuperado de: https://www.ccb.org.co/Inscripciones-yrenovaciones/Matricula-Mercantil/Boletines-del-Registro-Mercantil/Boletines-ano-2021

• DANE. Encuesta Pulso Social. Recuperado de: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/encuesta-pulsosocial

• DANE, Encuesta Pulso Empresarial, (Ronda no.22: enero - febrero 2022). Recuperado https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/comercio-interno/encuesta-pulso-empresarial • DANE, Exportaciones. Febrero 2022. Recuperado tema/comercio-internacional/exportaciones

de:

de:

https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-

• DANE, Comercio internacional importaciones febrero 2022.

Recuperado https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/comercio-internacional/importaciones.

de:

• Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo. Informes de Inversión Extranjera Directa. Recuperado de: https://www.mincit.gov.co/estudios-economicos/estadisticas-e-informes/informes-de-inversion-extranjera • Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social. https://www.minsalud.gov.co/salud/publica/Vacunacion/Paginas/Vacunacion-covid-19.aspx

Recuperado

de:

• Covid 19 tracker. Reuters. Recuperado de: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countriesand-territories/colombia/ • DANE. Encuesta Pulso Empresarial. Recuperado de: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/comerciointerno/encuesta-pulso-empresarial

• Observatorio

de Desarrollo Económico de Bogotá.

Recuperado de: https://observatorio.desarrolloeconomico.gov.co/expectativas/indice-de-confianza-industrial-vuelve-terreno-positivo