Review of the Economy
on the fourth quarter of 1998
The Colombian economy registered a
substantial slowdown during 1998, growing at an annual rate of 0.6%. This situation was
reflected in the increasing level of unemployment, which reached 15.6% in december, over
three percentage points higher than in December of 1997. The representative market
exchange rate ended the year at $1,542.11, leading to an annualized devaluation rate of
18.9%. The current account deficit reached 6.6% of GDP, with net international reserves
falling to US$1.452 billion. Consumer prices in 1998 grew at an annual rate of 16.7%,
lower than the 17.7% rate registered in 1997. Additionally, the Producer Price Index grew
in 1998 at an annual rate of 13.5%.
REVIEW OF THE
ECONOMY
| YEARS |
GROWTH |
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
(%) |
CURRENT ACCOUNT
(% of GDP) |
INTERNATIONAL RESERVES
(Months of Imports of Goods and Services) |
GDP
(%) |
CPI
(%) |
PPI
(%) |
1990 |
4,3 |
32,4 |
29,9 |
10,6 |
1,3 |
5,9 |
1991 |
2,0 |
26,8 |
23,1 |
9,4 |
5,5 |
8,9 |
1992 |
4,0 |
25,1 |
17,8 |
9,8 |
1,8 |
8,8 |
1993 |
5,4 |
22,6 |
13,2 |
7,8 |
-4,0 |
6,9 |
1994 |
5,8 |
22,6 |
20,7 |
8,0 |
-5,1 *pr |
7,0 *pr |
1995 |
5,8 |
19,5 |
15,4 |
9,5 |
-5,7 *pr |
6,3 *pr |
1996 |
2,1 pr |
21,6 |
14,5 |
11,3 |
-5,5 *pr |
7,2 *pr |
1997 |
2,8 p |
17,7 |
17,5 |
12,0 |
-6,2 *pr |
6,5 *pr |
1998 |
0,6 p |
16,7 |
13,5 |
15,6 p |
-6,6 *pr |
6,0 *pr |
|
p :
Provisional.
pr: Preliminary.
* Since 1994, the statistics correspond to the new Balance of Payment
measure, according with the Balance of Payment Methodology of the International Monetary
Fund Balance of Payment Manual 5th Edition.
Source : National Administrative Department of Statistics(NADS) and
National Planning Department (NPD). |
