A statistical analysis by the National Association of Businessmen in Colombia (ANDI) finds that Colombia’s economy is the fourth-largest in Latin America.
The study’s results represent a net gain for the Colombian economy compared with eight years ago.
In 2002, Colombia had the seventh-largest GDP in Latin America, at $90 billion. In 2009, that figure went up to about $200 billion, helping Colombia to climb into fourth place.
Coming in first place for Latin America is Brazil, followed by Mexico and Argentina, who only barely stayed ahead of Colombia to take third place.
Colombia’s Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga echoed the report’s findings, and credited an increase in foreign investment to the rise in GDP.
In spite of the good news, other economists were less excited by the study’s results. Stanley Malinowitz, an economist at Colombia’s National University, said that much of the growth in Colombia’s GDP has come from industries such as mineral extraction, which create few jobs and have not helped to lower Colombia’s inequality or unemployment rates.