What Jumps Out: The State of Colombia

After 20 years of the right-wing robber barons, Gustavo Petro’s arrival was seen as a moment of hope for many. However, despite a rapidly expanding economy and success in areas such as poverty and agriculture, there is an ever-growing sense of chaos.

I remain steadfast in believing the election of an alternative to those who did little to improve poverty, failed in education, and oversaw wanton corruption was a good thing – unfortunately, Gustavo Petro failed to learn his lesson as Mayor of Bogotá that you cannot change the world in four years. He over-promised during his election campaign and has disappointed too many people – and there are still 17 months until he hands over the keys to his office.

This week saw the resignation of his third Ministerio de Hacienda Diego Guevara who will be replaced by German Avila – one wonders if the outgoing minister even had time to unpack his boxes – clumsy in the least, damaging confidence and probably impacting the Peso ($4134) which has weakened this week.

Petro declared a public holiday this week so people could protest in favor of his reform process. Numbers were far from biblical, and regardless, they won’t have an impact. He will only harden the attitude in Congress against the reforms, as politicians rail against perceived anti-democratic behavior.

FDI dropped 22% in February to $759 million USD according to Banco de la República – Colombia – again, confidence is being impacted by the perceived lack of political and economic direction.

Domestic demand remains in rude health with imports according to Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística – DANE Colombia rising 8.5% in January with a 15.5% rise in consumer goods. This, as expected, led to a lumpy deficit of $1.28 billion USD as exports remain under pressure.

This is very much in line with the January ISE (economic activity) report, which saw a higher-than-expected rise of 2.65%. So we continue very much in the same vein, the economy moving steadily ahead, but the politicians, who are already positioning themselves for May 2026, are doing their best to derail confidence in the country.

An uninspiring week.

See you all soon.

Roops.

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Photo credit: Gustavo Petro/X.