Portal Industrial Cartagena Colombia - Forum - Contacts

Emerging markets are going through a historical boom period. With the developing world undergoing an economic crisis of confidence, many leading economists predict that much of the future global economic growth will be driven by emerging markets, which as a whole are expected to grow two to three times as fast as developed countries this year.

Much of the recent focus has been on the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China), given their large populations and growing middle classes. However, recent fears of China going through a hard landing, Brazil and India’s rising inflation and Russia’s not-so-democratic economic interventions, have investors considering other high-potential emerging markets.
As an alternative to the BRIC nations, some are taking a look at the CIVETS nations (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa), a term coined by the Economist magazine. These countries are often called “the new BRICS” because of the potential that they have as second generation emerging economies.

Famous for its troubled past, the inclusion of Colombia on this list often surprises investors. More surprising however, is the common reaction of investors once they come to Colombia for the first time and realize just how different it is from the outdated image it has globally. Colombia is going through a historic boom period like no other. The economy has been growing between 4-6% for the last several years. Inflation has remained between 3- 4% consistently. And the security situation has improved dramatically, with the murder rate in Bogota recently lower than that of Chicago, Detroit and Washington D.C.

Some interesting, facts about Colombia:

• After Mexico, Colombia is the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world
• Colombia is the second oldest uninterrupted constitutional democracy in the world, after the United States, and is Latin America’s oldest and most stable democracy.
• Colombia was Latin America’s strongest and most stable economy during the 20th century. It did not experience a year of negative growth for over 70 years, between the 1930s and the late 1990s. Moreover, it has never experienced hyperinflation and has never defaulted on its international debts or financial obligations.
• The GDP per capita has doubled in the last six years
• Colombian exports have tripled since 2003 and foreign-direct investment reached all-times highs in 2011.
• Colombia is rich is natural resources. It is one of the top five largest exporters of coal in the world and the largest foreign provider of coal to the United States and it is quickly becoming a major oil producer, close to producing one million barrels a day and soon to be one of the top twenty producers of oil globally.

Wilfried Ellmer ( info@tolimared.com )