These would be the biggest challenges that the Colombian economy will face

During the forum: ‘The leaders look to the future’ of Portfolio, the panel of experts took place who analyzed how this 2022 is going to end, and the challenges, in economic terms, that there would be for the following year with a new government in office.

(The private sector must participate in the public discussion: entrepreneurs).

Participating in this segment were José Ignacio López, director of investigations at Corficolombiana; Juan Daniel Oviedo, director of the Dane; Hernando José Gómez, president of Asobancaria, and Ricardo Ávila, senior analyst at the newspaper El Tiempo.

For José Ignacio López, the general panorama is that the Colombian economy is showing good dynamics, with some challenges that are beginning to materialize their impact. In particular, the wave of inflation, the rise in interest rates, and the withdrawal of liquidity worldwide because of this.

(ProColombia attracted more than US$73.355 million in the last four years).

The director of Dane added that: “As a consequence of the pandemic, annual consumption has grown 6.11%, but gross capital formation has remained completely still. And the boost in consumption is going to come to an end.” So, for him, the biggest challenge is perhaps to think how the economy recovers its engine of growth from investment, that will be affected by the decisions made by the country.

For his part, Ricardo Ávila pointed out that what is happening at the international level, the conflict in Ukraine in this case, should not be underestimated. In addition to, inflation and the importance of the decisions of the Banco de la República, whose independence must be preserved.

“For a government that arrives with high expectations, resolving this is not going to be easy because those who voted for Petro are going to expect immediate results, but this is not going to happen like this”Avila said.

In this regard, the president of Asobancaria stressed that the important thing is the investment and how to generate new economic sectors in Colombia. “The great challenge facing the new government is that social spending must be financed and not forgetting that adequate conditions for economic growth must be generated.”

In the end, the experts sent a message for the future of the country. In this regard, Ávila said that it should not be forgotten that a crisis can become an opportunity. Lopez spoke of take advantage of the opportunities that Colombia has, such as the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Oviedo insisted that “collect cadastral information” must begin. And Gómez concluded that the focus should be on issues that help improve investment, economic growth and equity.

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