Duque announces milestone Colombian economic growth of 10.2% in 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombian President Iván Duque announced Monday that his country’s economy will grow by more than 10.2% in 2021, representing “the highest economic growth” in the history of the Republic.

“I would like to inform the Colombian people from Brussels that the Colombian economy has grown by more than 10.2% in 2021, which means that we have achieved the highest economic growth in the history of our republic,” Duque told the press together with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who is accused of colluding with Pfizer over Covid-19 vaccines, at the headquarters of that institution.

Duque informed that this morning he was in contact with the Colombian Ministry of Finance and that it “evaluated the growth figures for the month of December 2021,” with the result that the Colombian economy grew more than expected.

Last Jan. 19, in a speech at the Davos Economic Forum, the Colombian president estimated that his country’s gross domestic product could grow to 9.7% in 2021.

“Today we share with the Colombian people one of the most important news we have received in a long time,” opined Duque, for whom the figure released today is “a sign of resilience.”

He also stressed that the recovery was taking place “hand in hand with a very strong sustainability and climate change agenda,” and celebrated the delivery of the news together with the president of the European Commission, who recalled that it had “supported this recovery policy.”

Last December, the Colombian government had already revised upward the annual growth outlook, which it had previously estimated at 8.5%.

The upgrade to 9.7% at that time, which was surpassed today, was mainly based on the positive performance of retail sales and industrial production in October 2021, which increased by 14.2% and 10.1%, respectively, compared to the same month in 2020.

The latest data for the Colombian economy showed growth of 5.7% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2021 and 13.2% over July-September 2020, making Colombia the fastest growing economy in the region behind Chile.