2. GOOD NEWS FROM COLOMBIA AND BOGOTÁ
GOOD NEWS FROM COLOMBIA
• Colombia and the Pacific Alliance
In October 2024, Colombia reinforced its commitment to the Pacific Alliance, a trade bloc that includes Peru, Mexico and Chile. During the meetings at the Pacific Alliance Summit, which were held in Bogotá, Colombia reaffirmed its commitment to free trade, regional integration and sustainability. This summit was also marked by the announcement of joint initiatives in areas such as decarbonization of the economy, technological innovation, and educational cooperation.
The strengthening of the Pacific Alliance opens up new opportunities for trade and investment between these countries and the rest of the world, especially in Asian markets. The Colombian capital, Bogotá, positioned itself as a key discussion center on international trade policy and sustainable economic development. For more information, visit the following link.
• Colombia Establishes New Trade Agreements with China
The Colombian government signed a new trade agreement with China, one of the most important trading partners for Colombia in Asia. This agreement was a significant step towards the expansion of Colombian exports to China, particularly in agricultural and mineral products. During the month of October, Colombia also began exporting specialty coffee to China, which represents a milestone for the national coffee industry, as it opens doors to a market that is constantly growing and where the demand for high-quality coffee has increased.
This agreement not only strengthens the bilateral trade relationship, but also puts Bogotá at the center of diplomatic and commercial relations with China, a market that has been key to the development of many Latin American countries. For more information, visit the following link
• Colombia is the fifth largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the first half of 2024
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlighted the recovery of foreign direct investment in the first half of the year for Colombia. According to the OECD, the recovery was due to a greater flow of investments in the first quarter of 2024. The countries with the highest FDI were the United States with US$153 billion, Brazil with US$32 billion and Mexico with US$31 billion. Colombia ranks fifth. For more information, visit the following link
• The expansion of Technology and Software exports is a reality in Colombia
Another sector that stands out at the end of the year is technology and software. Colombia has invested heavily in the development of its technology industry, and this month several international agreements were signed for the export of technology and software services. With highly qualified human capital and a diversified offering, Colombia has the potential to further consolidate itself in the international market. However, it is essential to address the challenges facing the industry, such as talent retention and strengthening competitiveness. Sector reports show that Colombian exports of IT services and technological solutions have grown interestingly in recent years. For more information, visit the following link.
• The country consolidates its leadership in nature tourism with business worth more than US$9.7 million
Colombia Nature Travel Mart (CNTM), the country's most important business event in the nature, adventure and wellness tourism segment, concluded with business expectations exceeding US$9.7 million, representing a 9% increase compared to the US$8.8 million achieved in 2023. With 925 meetings between Colombian and international businesspersons, Colombia stood out as a key destination for nature, adventure and wellness tourism. For more information, visit the following link
GOOD NEWS FROM BOGOTÁ - REGION
• Bogotá Leads the Growth of International Tourism in Colombia
In October 2024, Bogotá experienced a significant increase in international tourism, with growth close to 15% compared to 2023. According to the report of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, the Colombian capital remains one of the most visited destinations by foreign tourists, thanks to its cultural, gastronomic and business offering.
The city is emerging as a growing tourist destination, supported by the District Institute of Tourism, which leads a series of strategies to boost international recognition of the country's capital. One of the key initiatives is 'Bogotá de Gala', designed to recognize companies and people from sectors such as gastronomy, entertainment and business tourism that contribute to consolidating the city's brand and fostering its economic development. For more information, visit the following link.
• Bogotá concentrates 60% of the country's startup base, focusing on innovation.
ProBogotá says that one of the city's biggest challenges is to complete mobility infrastructure projects. Bogotá receives around 12.3 million tourists a year and has 60% of the country's startups. Learn more about this from ProBogota, a private and independent organization that seeks to make the capital an epicenter of investment and work.
• Bogotá received a global certification in cerebral stroke care
Stroke is thethird causeof death after ischemic heart disease and chronicobstructive pulmonary disease, and the mortality rate is estimated to be approximately 20-25 per 100,000 inhabitants. This is the first recognition that the World Stroke Organization has granted to a public-private network located in Bogotá. Read the news article here.
3. BCC NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
• Bogotá held the great entrepreneurial meeting Startup Nights 2024. The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce held the third edition of Startup Nights 2024. An unprecedented event for 280 entrepreneurs who participated in workshops, discussion panels and inspiring talks. In addition, there were spaces for connection between entrepreneurs, investment funds, angel investors, academia, accelerators, Family Offices and other ecosystem actors, to share experiences, challenges and lessons about entrepreneurship and investment in startups.
• Business Volunteering Congress: Building our country. The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, together with HandsOn Colombia, PWC, Gabrica, Corona and redV, will develop the third edition of the Congress, a unique opportunity to highlight and learn about the social and environmental actions that various companies in Colombia have implemented through business volunteering, in support of the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. For more information and registration, click here
• Colombia – Venezuela Business Roundtable. The Colombia – Venezuela 2024 Business Roundtable was held in Caracas in the second week of November, which has consolidated as a milestone in the reactivation of trade relations between both countries. Organized in partnership with the Caracas Chamber of Commerce, this event demonstrated the institutional strength and the benefits of establishing binational relations. More than 200 Venezuelan companies participated to exchange experiences, generate commercial contacts and explore new business opportunities.
4. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS
4.1 GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT – GDP BOGOTÁ
During the second quarter of 2024, Bogotá's GDP grew by 2.2%, a figure close to the 2.1% recorded in the second quarter for Colombia's GDP; Bogotá's GDP increased by 2.5 percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2023, when Bogotá's GDP decreased by 0.3%.
Regarding the departments´ GDP, the results showed that Bogotá and Cundinamarca consolidated 31.3% of the total national production in 2023. Also, that the region's growth was 0.5%, compared to 2022, while that of Colombia was 0.6%.
The activities of wholesale and retail trade, public administration and defense, and real estate activities had the greatest relative importance with respect to gross added value for 2023, participating with 24.99%, 17.00%, 12.71% in Bogotá.
Agriculture and mining and quarrying activities contributed the least to the added value of the city, with shares of 0.01% and 0.16% respectively.
4.2 ECONOMIC MONITORING INDICATOR (EMI)
Colombia's Economic Monitoring Indicator (EMI) has experienced fluctuations over the years, reflecting the volatility in the country's economy. Between 2022 and 2024, monthly growth fluctuated between2.4% and 2.5%, as shown in figure 1; however, in September 2024, a variation of -0.4% was recorded in the EMI, compared to 0.6% in August 2024.
Source: DANE. ISE, 2023.
Graph 1. Monthly growth of the Economic Monitoring Indicator
In September 2024, the activities that showed the greatest annual increase in the EMI were Financial and insurance activities (7.3%) and Public administration and defense (4.0%). On the contrary, the activity that registered the greatest decrease was Manufacturing industries and Construction, which showed an annual reduction of 2.3% during the analysis period.
4.3 INFLATION
Bogotá experienced a decrease in monthly price variation in October 2024 compared to the same month of the previous year, while Colombia also recorded a monthly decrease in prices. In October 2023, the monthly variation in Colombia was 0.25% and in Bogotá 0.22%, while in October 2024 it was -0.13% and -0.08%, respectively.
Graph 2. Monthly and annual inflation in Colombia and Bogotá during October 2023-2024.
Source: DANE - Consumer Price Index (CPI)
For its part, the annual price variation in Colombia fell from 10.48% in October 2023 to 5.41% in October 2024, while the annual price variation in October 2024 in the capital shows a reduction of 4.98 percentage points compared to the same month in 2023, from 10.78% to 5.80%.
The monthly price variation data by expenditure division in Colombia for October 2024 show that the expenditure division with the greatest drop was Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, which showed a negative variation of 0.76%. On the other hand, in Bogotá, the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco division ranked first in Bogotá with a monthly variation of 0.30%. It was followed by the Miscellaneous Goods and Services division, 0.27%, and Health, 0.26%. As for the divisions that fell, in Bogotá the expenditure division that presented the greatest negative variation was Information and Communication and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, which decreased by 0.27% and 0.84%, respectively.
4.4 BUSINESS DYNAMICS
During the period from January to October 2024, the data show a slight drop in the number of companies created in the jurisdiction of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce compared to the previous year. There is an overall decrease of 3.5% in the total number of companies created for the reference period compared to the same period in 2023, from 76,852 to 74,170; this represents a drop of 2,682 companies in the referenced period. Considering the same period from January to October, the companies created in Bogotá fell by 3.8%, from 62,895 in 2023 to 60,498 companies in 2024; and in the 59 municipalities by 2.0%, from 13,957 in 2023 to 13,672 companies in 2024.
When analyzing the participation of companies by legal type in the period January-October 2024, it can be seen that more than 50% of the registered companies belong to Natural Persons, with a total of 49,396 companies, which represents 67% of the total companies created in the jurisdiction of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce. On the other hand, companies under Legal Person reach a total of 24,774, which represents 33% of the total companies created in the same jurisdiction.
Regarding annual variation, the Legal Person category experienced a positive growth of 4.8% in the number of companies created between January-October 2023 and January-October 2024, while the drop for Natural Person was 7.2%.
When analyzing the participation of companies by size in the January-October 2024 period (See Graph 3), micro-enterprises represent the largest share of the business fabric, with a total of 74,048 companies, which is equivalent to 99.84% of the total number of companies created in the jurisdiction of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce; small companies constitute 0.10% of the total, with a record of 73 companies created in the reference period.
On the other hand, medium-sized companies represent 0.04%, with 31 companies created, while large companies make up 0.03% of the total, with a record of 18 companies created.
Graph 3. Evolution of companies created between 2023 and 2024 for the January - October period, by size
In terms of annual variation in the number of companies created compared to the January-October 2023 period, microenterprises had a decrease of 3.5%, and small companies experienced an increase of 12.3%. Meanwhile, medium-sized companies also grew by 40.9% and large companies registered an increase of 28.6%.
4.5 LABOR MARKET
Employment has shown some changes in occupation compared to the previous year; at the national level, the unemployment rate in September 2024 was 9.1%, 0.2 p.p. lower than in September 2023, on the contrary, the employment rate has decreased by 0.6 p.p. in the last year, standing at 57.7% in September 2024. The overall participation rate showed a negative variation of 0.7 p.p. and stood at 63.5% in September 2024, a figure lower than that presented in the same period of the previous year, 64.2%.
Source: Large Integrated Household Survey - GEIH (DANE), September 2024
In the case of Bogotá and its metropolitan area, the unemployment rate was 9.3% for the JulySeptember 2024 moving quarter, slightly lower than the 9.6% of the national total for the same period; for the same moving quarter, the capital shows an employment rate of 64.4%, which is 6.5 p.p. above the national employment rate for the same quarter, which was 57.9%. The data show that more people of working age are participating in the labor market in the capital (71.1%) than in the country (64.1%).
Graph 5. Number of employed and unemployed persons in Colombia for September 2023/2024 (thousands of people)
Source: Large Integrated Household Survey - GEIH (DANE), September 2024
Graph 4. GPR, OR and UR, Colombia
The number of employed persons in the country increased by 106,000 from September 2023 to September 2024, and the number of unemployed decreased by 1.0%, 22,000 more.
Chart 6. Unemployment rate, by sex in September 2023-2024
Source: Large Integrated Household Survey - GEIH (DANE), September 2024
As for labor market figures differentiated by sex, in September 2024 the gap in the unemployment rate between men and women was 4.6 p.p., a distance of 1.0 p.p. compared to the same month in 2023. (Chart 6).
Therefore, this point deserves attention, given that the difference continues to be very high and attention should be paid to female employability and development. However, while unemployment among women remains high with an unemployment rate of 11.8%, unemployment among women increased by 0.5 p.p. from September 2023 to September 2024. Finally, it is important to mention that the overall participation rate in September 2024 was much higher for men than for women. While the overall participation rate for men was 76.1%, that of women was only 51.9%, a challenge in terms of inclusion of women to participate in the labor market, given the difference is 24.2 p.p.
5. EVOLUTION OF FOREIGN TRADE
5.1 Exports
Dynamic of exports from Colombia and the Bogotá – Cundinamarca region
In September 2024, Colombia experienced a decrease in its exports of 0.9% compared to the same month of the previous year; Bogotá showed a drop of 1.5%, and Cundinamarca also registered a drop of 4.1%.
Source: DANE, International Trade
In September 2024, Colombia reported exports for $4.1 billion FOB dollars. Bogotá, for its part, registered a decrease, reaching $327.6 million FOB dollars for that month. Finally, Cundinamarca experienced a drop in its exports, reaching $193.2 million (See graph 8).
Source: DANE, International Trade
Graph 7. Annual variation of Colombian exports in Bogotá and Cundinamarca 2021-2024
Graph 8. Bogotá – Cundinamarca region exports, September 2022, 2023 and 2024
Colombia Bogotá Cundinamarca
Bogotá Cundinamarca
In September 2024, total exports from the Bogotá-Cundinamarca region reached a value of $521 million FOB dollars (excluding oil and its derivatives). The United States stood out as the main export destination, with a total of $209.9 million FOB dollars, equivalent to 36.9% of the overall total.
Ecuador ranked second on the list of export destinations with $49 million FOB dollars, representing 8.5% of the total, while Mexico came in third with $32.9 million FOB dollars, and with a share of 5.8%. Peru and Venezuela also stood out as relevant destinations with $30.4 million (5.3%), and $26.6 million (4.7%) respectively. Spain contributed with $20.6 million (3.6%) and Canada contributed with $17.1 million (3.0%); The Netherlands, Panama and Chile contributed $15 million (2.6%), $14.8 million (2.5%) and $13.5 million (2.4%), respectively, to the region's exports.
Exports to other countries, grouped under "Other countries", accounted for $141 million FOB dollars, constituting 24.7% of the overall total, a significant contribution in terms of share in the month of September 2024.
Source: DANE, International Trade
In summary, Bogotá-Cundinamarca exports in September 2024 continued to be centered around the United States, followed by Ecuador. The other main Latin American destinations are Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Panama and Chile, which also played an important role in the export structure for September 2024.
Graph 9. Exports according to destination countries. Bogotá – Cundinamarca, September 2024
5.2 Imports
Import dynamic of Colombia and the Bogotá – Cundinamarca region
In September 2024, Colombia's total imports reached $5.1billion CIF dollars, experiencing an increase of 4.4% compared to September 2023. Similarly, Bogotá showed an increase in its imports of 7.7% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching $2.5 billion CIF dollars in September 2024. Likewise, Bogotá's share in national imports increased, going from 47.7% in September 2023 to 49.2% in September 2024.
Cundinamarca also experienced an increase in its imports, reaching $437 million CIF dollars in September 2024, which is an increase of 9.8% compared to September 2023. Cundinamarca's share in national imports increased from 7.7% in September 2023 to 7.9% in September 2024.
The Bogotá-Cundinamarca region, which includes Bogotá and Cundinamarca, recorded imports worth $2.9 billion CIF dollars in September 2024, representing an increase of 7.5% compared to the same month of the previous year. The share of this region in national imports increased from 55.4% in September 2023 to 57.1% in September 2024.
Graph 10. Imports from Colombia, Bogotá and Cundinamarca (September 2023 – 2024)
Colombia
Bogotá Cundinamarca
The region's main trading partners were China and the United States. China led with $779 million CIF dollars, accounting for 26.4% of the total, followed by the United States, which contributed $636 million CIF dollars, accounting for 21.6% of the total. These two countries account for approximately half of all imports in the region (48.0%).
Mexico, with $189 million CIF dollars, ranked third in importance, contributing 6.4% of the total. Brazil and Germany also played a relevant role, contributing $159 million (5.4%) and $138 million (4.7%) respectively. Japan and India accounted for $112 and $61 million CIF dollars respectively, while Italy and Argentina presented contributions of $60.4 and $60.3 million CIF dollars.
Finally, “Other countries” contributed $751 million CIF dollars, representing 25.5% of total imports in the region, highlighting the diversity of import origins beyond the main partners mentioned.
Graph 11. Imports according to countries of origin. Bogotá – Cundinamarca, September 2024
Source: DANE, Imports.
Graph 12. Exports by destination country. Bogotá – Cundinamarca, August 2024
Source: DANE, International Trade
6. SOURCES
• 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-portema/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_CLUST ER-249264
• Diario La República https://larepublica.co
