Economy - overview:
Colombia's economy suffers from weak domestic and foreign demand, austere government budgets, and serious internal armed conflict. Other economic problems facing the new president URIBE range from reforming the pension system to reducing high unemployment. Two of Colombia's leading exports, oil and coffee, face an uncertain future; new exploration is needed to offset declining oil production, while coffee harvests and prices are depressed. Colombian business leaders are calling for greater progress in solving the conflict with insurgent groups. On the positive side, several international financial institutions have praised the economic reforms introduced by President URIBE and have pledged enough funding to cover Colombia's debt servicing costs in 2003.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $268 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
2% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $6,500 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 13%
industry: 30%
services: 57% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line:
55% (2001)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1%
highest 10%: 44% (1999)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
57.1 (1996)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
6.2% (2002)
Labor force:
18.3 million (1999 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
services 46%, agriculture 30%, industry 24% (1990)
Unemployment rate:
17.4% (2002 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $24 billion
expenditures: $25.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001 est.)
Industries:
textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds
Industrial production growth rate:
4% (2001 est.)
Electricity - production:
42.99 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 26%
hydro: 72.7%
other: 1.3% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
39.81 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
210 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
40 million kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
614,400 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
252,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves:
1.8 billion bbl (January 2002 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
132 billion cu m (January 2002 est.)
Agriculture - products:
coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables; forest products; shrimp
Exports:
$12.9 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
petroleum, coffee, coal, apparel, bananas, cut flowers
Exports - partners:
US 43%, Andean Community of Nations 22%, EU 14%, (2001 est.)
Imports:
$12.5 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
industrial equipment, transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, paper products, fuels, electricity
Imports - partners:
US 35%, EU 16%, Andean Community of Nations 15%, Japan 5% (2001 est.)
Debt - external:
$38.4 billion (2002 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$NA
Currency:
Colombian peso (COP)
Currency code:
COP
Exchange rates:
Colombian pesos per US dollar - 2,504.24 (2002), 2,299.63 (2001), 2,087.9 (2000), 1,756.23 (1999), 1,426.04 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
NOTE: The information regarding Colombia on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Colombia Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
