Colombia’s finance minister said in an interview published Friday that an eventual peace deal with rebel group FARC would boost the country’s economic growth with one percentage point.
While on a visit to Washington D.C. for meetings with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and a summit of finance ministers from the Americas, Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas told newspaper El Espectador that Colombia’s economy would grow an extra percent in the event of peace with the country’s largest and oldest guerrilla group.
“Peace … could give us another point in growth,” Cardenas said, adding that “this is not entirely in our hands as we have a difficult and unpredictable talking partner.”
According to the Minister, a pending plan by President Juan Manuel Santos to invest in the country’s failing road infrastructure, together with the eventual deal with the FARC, could boost the economy with no less than 2% per year.
“The most conservative calculations indicate that Colombia would accelerate its growth with one percentage point per year. Meaning, a country that growth with 5% could jump to 6% with the infrastructure reform and to 7% if we have peace,” Cardenas told El Espectador.
The IMF lowered Colombia’s expected economic growth for this year to 3.7% from an initial estimate of 4.8%.
MORE: Colombia says economy grew 4.2% in Q2
Sources
- “Colombia crecería un 1% más con acuerdo de paz con las Farc” (El Espectador)