_2014.png){kind=link}
Colombia’s gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded $309 billion in 2017 after a commodity-fueled spurt at the beginning of the 21st century. The commodity bubble greatly benefited the country’s exports of oil, gold and coal, but limited the development of traditional export sectors.
Colombia GDP
Pushed by booming oil revenue, Colombia’s GDP grew rapidly, until the bubble burst in 2014. The global collapse of commodity prices deflated the price of the Colombian peso and the GDP contracted.
Source: World Bank
Colombia’s GDP growth rate
The commodity boom allowed Colombia to avoid much of the fallout of the global banking crisis of 2008. The country’s traditional sectors — weakened by years of an oil-inflated peso — have been struggling to recover.
Source: World Bank
Colombia’s GDP per sector
Contrary to popular belief, oil and mining only make up a small percentage of Colombia’s GDP. Commerce, public services and manufacturing make up almost half of the country’s economy.
Source: DANE
GDP per sector (billions of pesos)
While most business sectors have grown steadily over the past decades, this has not been the case for sectors that largely depend on exports. The commodity boom inflated the price of the peso and reduced the competitiveness on the global market of commerce, manufacturing and agriculture.
Source: DANE
GDP per capita in US dollars
Colombia’s GDP per capita recovered from the bursting commodity bubble in 2017 to reach $6,300, but is likely to need years to recover and reach the levels from before the 2014 commodity crisis.
Source: World Bank
GDP per capita growth
Source: World Bank
Regional GDP distribution
Colombia’s GDP is largely concentrated in the country’s capital Bogota, and in cities like Medellin and Cali. Chronic state neglect has left the economies of other, mostly rural regions of the country severely underdeveloped.
Source: DANE
