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 - $251.6 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
1.5% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $6,100 (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 est.)
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 (37257)
Natural gas - production:
5.7 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
5.7 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
132 billion cu m (37257)
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 44.8%, Venezuela 9.4%, Ecuador 6.8% (2002)
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 32.6%, Venezuela 7%, Mexico 5.3%, Japan 5.3%, Brazil 5.2%,
Germany 4.2% (2002)
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