Weekly Report - 30 June 2011 (WR-11-26)

COLOMBIA | GDP growth. The economy grew by 5.1% during the first quarter of 2011 compared with the same period last year, the national statistics institute (Dane) reported. The mining sector expanded by 9.4%, while the agriculture sector increased by 7.8%, driven by coffee production, which grew by 36.6%. Trade increased by 6.7%, and manufacturing grew by 5.1%, over the same period. Construction, however, contracted by 4.5% as a result of an 11.5% fall in public works spending. The government is predicting growth of between 5% and 6% in 2011. The economy grew by 4.3% in 2010.
President Juan Manuel Santos also chose to highlight a 16% growth in tourism in the first five months of the year, and expanding hotel occupancy. His government argued that this was testament to the success of its sustained pressure on illegal armed groups in Colombia.
Separately, on 22 June Fitch became the last of the big three credit rating agencies to raise Colombia's rating to investment grade for "its track record of prudent economic policies, demonstrated resilience to external and domestic shocks, as well as the improvement in its external credit metrics". Standard & Poor's and Moody's used similar reasoning to justify the same action earlier this year.

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