Weekly Report - 19 January 2017 (WR-17-02)

COLOMBIA | Positive outlook. Colombia’s finance minister, Mauricio Cárdenas, predicted on 17 January that the domestic economy would post GDP growth of 2.5% this year, half a percentage point more than in 2016. Colombia’s moderate growth last year came amid a more adverse global economic environment marked by low international prices of oil and mineral commodities – two of Colombia’s leading exports. This scenario looks set to remain this year, exacerbated by the uncertainty produced by the prospect of increased economic protectionism in the US following the inauguration of Donald Trump as president.