Weekly Report - 25 September 2008 (ISSN 1741-7422)

COLOMBIA | Economy slows. The economy grew by 3.7% in the second quarter, compared with 8% in the same period in 2007, the national statistics department (Dane) reported. First quarter growth was 4.1%. This all makes bleak reading for the government which estimated growth of 5% in 2008 after impressive growth of 7.35% last year, the best performance in three decades. The finance minister, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, reduced projected growth to between 3.8% and 4.2% this year. He blamed high food and fuel prices. Sales of automobiles fell 9.1% in the first eight months of the year on the same period last year to 148,976 units, partly as a result of import restrictions imposed by Venezuela.