See Special Medellin Section
Colombia: Country Fact file
Colombia - Overview
Area
1,138,915 km2
Population density
41.2 people/km2
Currency
Colombian new peso (NP = 100 centavos)
Colombia - Location
Colombia forms the geographical link between Central and South America. Meeting the Isthmus of Panama in the west, it is bordered on the south by Ecuador and Peru, and on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, and has coastlines on both the Caribbean and the Pacific. Its climate is warm and temperate in the coastal strip, but arid in the inland plateau. The capital is Bogotá.
Colombia - Head of state
Alvaro Uribe Velez (2002)
Head of government
Alvaro Uribe Velez (2002)
Colombia - Ruling party
The government is formed by the Colombian Conservative Party (PCC), the Liberal Party of Colombia (PLC) and non-partisans.
Colombia - Political structure
Colombia has an executive president who answers to a 102-member Senate and a House of Representatives with 161 elected members. Constitutional reform has been under way for many years, but in practice the issue has been repeatedly overshadowed by concerns about the eradication of the gangs who operate the drug trade. In 2005, the Constitutional Court upheld an amendment to the constitution which will allow the president to stand for a second term.
Colombia - Last elections
In presidential elections held in May 2006, Uribe was re-elected with 62% of the vote. The main contender was Carlos Gaviria Diaz who took 22% of the vote.Elections to the House were held in March 2006. The PLC won 36 seats while the PCC took 30 seats. The Socialist National Unity Party received 29 seats and the Radical Change Party claimed 20 seats. The remainder went to several smaller parties. Elections to the Senate took place at the same time. The Socialist National Unity Party received 20 seats, the PCC won 18 seats and the PLC took 17 seats. The Radical Change Party received 15 seats and the Alternative Democrats took 11 seats. The remainder were scattered among several other parties.
Colombia Political risk
Uribe's army has made considerable progress against the left-wing Fuerzas Armada Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). Even FARC's allies are pressing it to enter serious negotiations with the government. Any agreement will probably include some security guarantees for the guerrilla leaders. The government has also reined in the right-wing United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC). Colombia has extradited 14 of its leaders to the USA where they will serve long prison terms. The government's programme to reduce the acreage devoted to coca production has had less success.
International disputes
In 2003, a dispute erupted between Colombia and Nicaragua over oil concessions in areas surrounding the San Andres and Providencia islands. The Nicaraguan government was set to issue exploration and production concessions. The Colombian government, however, objected to the concessions, claiming that some were located in its territorial waters. Relations with Venezuela have been tense for several years as a result of Venezuela's alleged aid to Colombian guerrillas. In 2008, these differences appeared to have been patched up – at least for the time being. American pressure on the government to eradicate coca production continues but there has been little progress.
Main industries
Farming is the mainstay of the Colombian economy with production of coffee, sugar, bananas, cotton and meat. Coffee is grown by 400,000 farmers, mainly smallholders who employ a similar number of labourers. The government is supporting the development of ethanol production and has introduced policies requiring fuel companies to mix it into petrol. Agriculture accounts for 10.8% of GDP. Manufacturing, which makes 16.2% of GDP, is concentrated around the cities of Medellin, Bogota, Cali and Barranquilla. The sector is dominated by large private conglomerates. Major industries include textiles (using local cotton and wools), apparel and footwear, food processing, tobacco, iron and steel (partly using local coal and iron ore), metal products, automobile assembly, chemicals, oil refining and petrochemical products, cement, wood pulp, and paper. Non-traditional exports have increased in importance in recent years to over 50% of total exports. The overall health of the banking system has improved, as nonperforming loans have declined and profitability and capital adequacy has strengthened. Structural reforms continue to advance as authorities strengthen the financial system. Mining – mainly coal and oil – contributes another 6.7% of GDP and is one of the country's most important sources of exports. Oil is Colombia's top export product (followed by coal and coffee), accounting for about 25% of government revenues. Colombia also has vast and still under-exploited reserves of minerals including coal and oil, and deposits of gold, silver, copper, nickel, iron ore, platinum, bauxite, gypsum, limestone, phosphates, sulphur and uranium.
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EconomyColombia's economy continues to perform well. Strong economic growth is helping to lower unemployment and poverty. Inflationary pressures, however, are building and the economy is operating close to capacity. The country's flexible exchange rate mechanism has helped it weather much of the turbulence in international markets. Family remittances from abroad have also risen while unemployment fell from 16.7% in 2000 to 11.1% in 2006. Big fiscal deficits, an expensive security build-up and a falling currency have caused the ratio of public debt to GDP to rise sharply. The government plans to cut public debt to 40% of GDP by 2010. Officials also intend to convert much of its debt to longer-dated bonds.
Colombia - Energy
Oil is the major legal export commodity of Colombia. The country has 1.45 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. These deposits represent the fifth-largest in South America. Oil production has steadily fallen throughout this decade. Nor has exploration led to the discovery of any new major oil fields. Substantial unexplored areas remain, however, many of them on the border with Venezuela. The government claims that the heavy oil deposits near the border could hold up to 20 billion barrels of recoverable resources. This would give Colombia more reserves than major producers such as Mexico or Algeria. Offshore exploration is also being carried out in the Pacific Ocean. Industry analysts believe this area could hold significant oil reserves. An ambitious investment programme in existing facilities is also underway. The country also has proven natural gas reserves of 4.0 trillion cubic feet. Domestic consumption of natural gas is gradually rising.
Statistical Summary
2002 2003 2004 2005
Inflation
(% change) 6.3 7.1 5.9 5.0 Exchange rate (per US$)
2,504.24 2,877.65 2,628.61 2,320.83 Lending
rate
16.3 15.2 15.1 14.6 GDP (% real growth)
1.9 3.9 4.9 4.7 GDP (national currency millions)
203,451,000.0 228,517,000.0 257,746,000.0 285,313,000.0 321,130,000.0 GDP (US$ millions)
81,242.6 79,411.0 98,054.1 122,935.8 Population, 43,524.3 44,220.3 44,911.5 45,598.2 mid-year ('000) Birth rate (per '000)
15.6 15.2 15.1 15.0 Death rate (per '000)
4.3 4.1 4.2 4.3 No. of households ('000)
10,760.8 11,194.1 11,604.4 11,989.6 Total exports (US$ millions) 11,911.0 13,079.8 16,223.5 21,145.7 Total imports (US$ millions) 12,711.1 13,888.5 16,745.7 21,204.4 Tourism receipts (US$ millions) 967.0 893.0 1,058.0 1,218.0 Tourism spending (US$ millions) 1,075.0 1,062.0 1,108.0 1,127.0 Urban population ('000) 32,168.3 32,860.5 33,551.5 34,260.7 Urban population (%) 74.5 74.9 75.3 75.7 Population aged 0-14 (%) 32.3 31.9 31.6 31.2 Population aged 15- 64 (%) 62.9 63.1 63.4 63.7 Population aged 65+ (%) 4.9 4.9 5.0 5.1 Male population (%) 49.4 49.4 49.4 49.4 Female population (%) 50.6 50.6 50.6 50.6 Life expectancy male (years) 69.2 69.4 69.6 69.9
Life
expectancy female 75.3 75.5 75.7 75.9