Last Thursday the report of the Economy Monitoring Indicator for the month of February, which had an annual variation of 2.49%, which, although it marks a rebound compared to the data for December and January, It was below the same period in 2023, when it was 2.7%, and in February 2022, when it was 6.8%..
By February 2024, the ISE, in its series adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, stood at 121.99which represented a growth of 1.34% compared to the month of February 2023 (120.38),” Dane added.
Given this, Andrés Langebaek, director of Grupo Bolívar Economic Studiessaid that this report “showed an acceleration of annual growth. However, part of the result is due to the low data in February 23. The variations compared to the previous month show a drop in activity associated with the primary sector”.
(You can read: Will electronic invoices from 2023 be used for discounts on income tax returns?).
In the breakdown by sectors it can be seen that the primary activities (agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing; exploitation of mines and quarries) are those that continue to drive the economy if it is taken into account that their annual variation was the most significant, reaching 7.8%, which exceeds 2.9 % of a year before, but it is lower than the 10.2% of last January.
The second rebound came from tertiary activities (public services, commerce, artistic, financial, real estate, communications and scientific activities, among others), which had an annual variation of 2.5%, which exceeds the 1.5% in January, but is below 3 .8% from a year ago.
Colombian economy.
Bloomberg
Given these data, Jackeline Piraján, economist at Scotiabank Colpatriaexplains that these data confirm that the country will continue to go through “a weak phase of economic growth, which will only end when it is in an advanced phase of the cycle of interest rate cuts and we begin to see some reactivation in consumption of households”, alleging that a downward adjustment in interest rates is necessary.
In this indicator, two important data must be taken into account that help explain the results in the tertiary sector. First of all, trade It had a variation of 1.2%, which, although it is higher than the -1% in January of this year, is below the 4.1% that had been achieved in 2023.
(Keep reading: Economic activity had a strong rebound in February, but it does not reach pre-pandemic levels).
Following this, it must be said that the bad grade came for financial and insurance activities, which fell -2.9% in this reporta figure that is below the 0.4% in January and 8.4% for the same period in 2023. This, according to experts, could be explained by the drop in credit applications.
In this breakdown by sectors it must also be said that the bad streak continues for industry and construction, generating the variation in secondary activities to be -2.6%. This data marks a slight recovery compared to -5.1% in January and -3.6% in Decemberbut remains below -0.1% in February 2023.
ISE
EL TIEMPO Archive
Finally, it is worth noting that Dane also adjusted the ISE annual series for January, which was at 1.6% (annual variation) and went to 1.9%, according to the entity, as a result of the Monthly Services Surveyin artistic and entertainment activities, which was also adjusted.
Given these data, analysts reiterate that it is necessary to urgently turn on the engines of reactivation, before it is too late.
DANIEL HERNÁNDEZ NARANJO
Portfolio Journalist
