Commercial and Industrial Confidence in Colombia Declines in November

Colombia’s Fedesarrollo released its latest Business Opinion Survey, revealing significant shifts in commercial and industrial confidence for November.

The Commercial Confidence Index fell to 17.6%, down 0.2 percentage points from October’s 17.8%. This decline stems from reduced expectations regarding the economic situation for the upcoming semester and an increase in inventory levels.

The Industrial Confidence Index also showed a notable decrease, dropping to -2.8%. This figure represents a decline of 2.4 percentage points compared to October, when it stood at -0.4%.

Luis Fernando Mejía, executive director of Fedesarrollo, attributed this drop to lowered production expectations for the next quarter. Despite these declines, the favorability of economic conditions for investment improved significantly.

It reached -18.9%, marking a notable increase of 12.9 percentage points from the previous quarter, which recorded -31.8%. Compared to the same period last year, this also reflects an improvement of 3.8 percentage points from -22.7%.

The sociopolitical conditions for investment remain challenging but show some progress. They currently stand at -46.5%, improving by 13.5 percentage points from the prior quarter and by 9 percentage points compared to November 2023.

Capacity utilization also saw a positive trend during this period, rising to 76.5% from 74.6% in August 2024. However, it still represents a decrease of 1.1 percentage points compared to the same period in 2023.

In the construction sector, companies reported a balance of -17.8%, indicating an increase of 7.2 percentage points from the previous period but a decrease of 5.3 percentage points compared to November of last year.

Overall, while commercial and industrial confidence has declined, certain indicators show signs of improvement, particularly in investment conditions and capacity utilization.

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