Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos is not just suffering abysmal approval ratings among the general population; Business leaders are equally negative about their head of state.
According to the latest poll by Deloitte Colombia, only 23% of business leaders approve of Santos and his policies. The majority, 58.1%, disapprove of the president.
The poll is held at a time Colombia is going through economic hardship caused by dropping oil prices.
The low oil prices spurred a profound nosedive of the country’s peso, increased inflation and is putting unemployment figures under pressure.
Of the polled business leaders, 43.5% said their economic outlook has worsened over the past year, compared to 21.2% when they were polled in October last year.
Pessimism over Colombia’s investment climate is even worse; 75.6% of polled businessmen said that the country’s investment climate has worsened in the past 12 months.
More than half of those who were polled said the government is not taking the adequate measures to improve the situation.
The majority of business leaders also said that the labor situation has worsened, meaning they would be less likely to hire new personnel and are more likely to reduce personnel.
But it’s not all bad for Santos and Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas.
A little more than 65% of the business leaders said to approve the government’s plans to massively invest in infrastructure while more than 44% said to approve of how the country is profiling itself as a business destination abroad.