On October 8th 2019, the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) for the year 2019, developed by the World Economic Forum, was presented in Geneva, Switzerland. The GCR included the analysis of twelve key indicators to determine the level of competitiveness of 141 economies, that represent 99% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 94% of the world population.

Colombia’s performance in this report clearly reflected the country’s economic growth and its strengthening in key areas. The current Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism highlighted Colombia rose three positions during 2018, placing itself in the 57th spot and obtaining its best performance in 14 years. The trend of improvement of the Colombian economy in terms of competitiveness was also visible when comparing its performance to that of other Latin American economies. At the regional level, Colombia was ranked as the fourth most competitive economy, only below Chile (first in the region and 33 in the global ranking), Mexico (48 in the global ranking) and Uruguay (54 in the global ranking). With respect to its regional performance of 2018, Colombia moved from the fifth position to the previously mentioned fourth position of 2019, surpassing Costa Rica.

Out of the twelve key indicators from the GCR report, Colombia was notably strong in the indicators of health and macroeconomic environment, where it rose 19 and 13 positions respectively. Additionally, Colombia made progress in 10 out of the 12 indicators, including topics such as infrastructure (rising two positions) and information and communication technologies (rising three positions).

Other global economic competitiveness reports that were presented in 2019 showed similar trends regarding the improvement of the Colombian economy. The IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2019, prepared by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), one of the most reputed business schools in the world, was presented last May. In the previously mentioned ranking, Colombia had an even bigger growth than in the GCR, rising six positions with respect to last year´s results and being placed 52nd out of 63 studied economies. At the Latin American level, Colombia’s performance was notable, occupying the third position, only below Chile (42 of the classification) and Mexico (50 of the classification), and being superior in terms of competitiveness to economies of great importance for the region such as Argentina or Brazil. Colombia and Mexico were the only two economies in the region that rose in the IMD ranking, rising six positions and one position respectively when compared to the results of 2018.

The IMD report has two main components. The first one is a section of quantitative data that was obtained from other organizations of great global relevance such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The second section is composed of qualitative data that was obtained from surveys applied by the IMD to a representative sample of the country’s businessmen. The survey asked businessmen their perspective on Colombia’s economy, and the result was a marked improvement showing Colombia enhanced its performance in 77 of 92 indicators, increasing an average of 5 positions in each one.

In addition to the division into quantitative and qualitative factors explained above, the IMD study divides the indicators into 20 subfactors that are grouped into 4 large groups. The referred groups are 1) Economic performance: Colombia went up one position, 2) Government efficiency: Colombia increased two positions, 3) Business efficiency: Colombia rose nine positions and 4) Infrastructure: where the country rose two positions. Of the 20 subfactors, the most notable for Colombia was that of prices, where the country occupied the tenth place and rose 17 positions with respect to the performance of the previous measurement, mainly due to an improvement in the cost of living. Although, in general, the exposed indicators are positive, the report indicated Colombia should focus on strengthening its export sector.

From all the above, it can be concluded that the Colombian economy is in a process of progress towards higher levels of productivity and increased performance. Likewise, the country demonstrates that even though several economies of the region are going through complex times, Colombia maintains a healthy stability and a tendency towards growth that makes it increasingly prominent among its peers. This is very promising for anyone who wants to take advantage of the country’s excellent moment, taking interest in its market and exploiting the conditions it offers.

SRS Colombia has just been rated with a score of 98/100 in satisfaction by an important European global relocation agency, highlighting the great professionalism and superior work provided by SRS’s consultants, operation coordinators and staff. SRS Colombia prides itself in providing high quality and efficient immigration and destination services to companies and investors in all regions of the Colombia.

References:

Aristizábal Bedoya, M. P. (2019, October 8). Colombia fue cuarta en competitividad regional según el ranking del Foro Económico Mundial. Retrieved October 21, 2019, from https://www.larepublica.co/globoeconomia/colombia-fue-cuarta-en-competitividad-regional-segun-el-ranking-del-foro-economico-mundial-2918879.

Centro de Desarrollo Industrial. (2019, October). INFORME GLOBAL DE COMPETITIVIDAD 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019, from http://www.cdi.org.pe/InformeGlobaldeCompetitividad/.

Córdoba Garcés, R. (2019, May 29). Colombia repunta en competitividad. Retrieved October 21, 2019, from https://www.portafolio.co/opinion/rosario-cordoba-garces/colombia-repunta-en-competitividad-analisis-530035.

Dinero. (2019, October 8). ¿Por qué Colombia logró un récord en el ranking mundial de competitividad? Retrieved October 21, 2019, from https://www.dinero.com/pais/articulo/como-le-fue-a-colombia-en-ranking-de-competitividad-del-foro-economico-mundial/277782.

International Institute for Management Development (IMD). (2019, May). IMD World Competitiveness Rankings 2019 Results. Retrieved from https://www.imd.org/wcc/world-competitiveness-center-rankings/world-competitiveness-ranking-2019/.

Mayorga Patarroyo, N. (2019, May 28). Colombia subió seis posiciones en el ranking de competitividad internacional que elabora el IMD. Retrieved October 21, 2019, from https://www.larepublica.co/globoeconomia/colombia-se-ubico-en-el-puesto-52-en-el-ranking-de-competitividad-de-imd-2866971.

Pérez Godoy, M. C. (2019, October 8). Colombia, con su mejor resultado en ‘ranking’ de competitividad. Retrieved October 21, 2019, from https://www.eltiempo.com/economia/sectores/colombia-logra-su-mejor-resultado-en-ranking-de-competitividad-mundial-421142.

World Economic Forum. (2019). Global Competitiveness Report 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019, from https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-competitiveness-report-2019.