Colombia
Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Ecuador and Venezuela). A four-decade long conflict between government forces and anti-government insurgent groups, principally the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) heavily funded by the drug trade, escalated during the 1990s. The insurgents lack the military or popular support necessary to overthrow the government and violence has been decreasing since about 2002, but insurgents continue attacks against civilians and large areas of the countryside are under guerrilla influence or are contested by security forces. More than 31,000 former paramilitaries had demobilized by the end of 2006 and the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) as a formal organization had ceased to function. In the wake of the paramilitary demobilization, emerging criminal groups arose, whose members include some former paramilitaries. The Colombian Government has stepped up efforts to reassert government control throughout the country, and now has a presence in every one of its administrative departments. However, neighboring countries worry about the violence spilling over their borders.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Peso (ISO code: COP)
- Central bank discount rate: 3.5% (31 November 2009)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 9.57% (31 December 2009)[1]
- Stock of money (M1): $25.01 billion (31 December 2009)[1]
- Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $26.57 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[2] | 86 301 | 94 053 | 92 877 | 93 016 | 91 702 | 113 774 | 144 581 | 162 347 | 207 786 | 243 765 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[3] | 56.702 | 55.674 | 78.127 | 56.968 | 49.085 | 54.297 | ||||
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[4] | 16.063 | 14.801 | 17.622 | 20.261 | 23.496 | 21.781 | 24.040 | 23.459 | ||
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[5] | 20.842 | 18.595 | 22.132 | 22.928 | 23.469 | 24.063 | 25.476 | 23.702 | ||
| Debt to revenue (years) | 3.218 | 2.748 | 3.325 | 2.615 | 2.042 | 2.315 |
References
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCIA_CO - ↑ World Bank. "Colombia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
- ↑ World Bank. "Colombia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
- ↑ World Bank. "Colombia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
- ↑ World Bank. "Colombia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
External links
- Colombia on Wikipedia
- Central bank of Colombia
- Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
- Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
- BBC country profile