Colombia’s oil and mining boom is over according to a senior official at Colombia’s Central Bank, quoted by business newswire Bloomberg on Thursday.
In a speech at in the northern city of Barranquilla, co-director of Colombia’s Central Bank, Adolfo Meisel, declared that the era of oil and mining sectors providing Colombian economy with significant boosts is over.
More than the half of the export last year came from the declining oil industry, and as of last month June the second biggest export coal is facing the lowest prices since 2009, Bloomberg reported
Meisel said alternatives to the oil and mining export, which have boosted the economy, have to come from within the country,
“The economy’s dynamism in the future will depend on internal demand, and strategic investments in public works,” he said,
Colombian government announced the first decline in the oil production output since 2005 due to guerrilla attacks on oil infrastructure, community protests, limiting environmental permits.
A forecast by the Finance Ministry shows that the oil production is decreasing in 2014 compared to 2013. The average oil barrels per day are predicted to 981,000, less than the 1.006 million barrel average from 2013.
The guerrilla attacks are in addition to a looming problem: Colombia’s proven oil reserve are set to run dry by 2020, according to the then-Energy Minister in 2013.
MORE: Colombia only has 7 years of oil reserves: Energy Minister
Nevertheless the Central Bank expects a growth in 2014 on 5%, which is slightly more than in 2013.
President Juan Manuel Santos has repeated that the oil and mining industries were the “locomotive” of Colombian economy, but those days might be coming to an end.
Sources
Colombia’s Oil and Mining Boom Is Over Says Central Banker (Bloomberg)