COLOMBIA

Language: Spanish, Approximately 65 languages, including indigenous languages,

English in San Andrés and Providencia and palenquero in San Basilio de Palenque are

considered as co-official in their respective territories.

Colombia is currently the second country in the world with the largest number of

Spanish speakers after Mexico. Article 10 of the Political Constitution of Colombia

establishes that the Spanish language is the official language of the country, as well as the

languages and dialects of the ethnic groups in their respective territories. In the archipelago

of San Andrés y Providencia the English language is spoken by the native inhabitants and is

the official local language.

There is a great diversity of dialects of Spanish that are distinguished by lexical

(semantic), morphological, syntactic and intonation differences, although seseo, yeísmo and

other characteristics of American Spanish are common in all dialects. The north of

Colombia shares a dialect group similar to that of other Hispanic Caribbean nations such as

Panama, Venezuela, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua. The

Andean south shares the dialect with the Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Bolivian and Argentine

mountains. In the diverse mountains, valleys and plains there is a great diversity of dialects

that include the voseo and the tuteo.

Population: It is estimated that Colombia has 45'500,000 inhabitants.

Religion: The Christian population in Colombia is estimated at 92.5%, of which 89%

are Catholic, 10.8% Protestant and 0.2% other Christian denominations, while 6.6% do not

present any religious affiliation, according to the Pew Research Center in 2010.
Catholicism was brought from Spain by the missionaries and introduced throughout the

Colony. In the republican era, the Political Constitution of 1886 established in article 38

that "The Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Religion is that of the Nation". It is a predominantly

Catholic nation despite the fact that the Political Constitution of 1991 established religious

freedom and eliminated the concept of Catholic nation by that of laity. The archipelago of

San Andrés, Providencia, Santa Catalina and other dependencies were initially colonized by

English Puritans, in particular by the Providence Island Company; its population is still

partly Protestant. In 2004, a survey by the newspaper El Tiempo showed that 10% of the

population identified themselves as non-evangelical Christians, 3.5% as evangelical and

1.9% did not profess religious beliefs. 60% of respondents acknowledged not actively

practicing their faith.

On the other hand, there are syncretic religious forms, the result of the fusion of

Catholicism with indigenous and African religions, which can be seen in Santería and in the

Carnival of Blancos y Negros de Pasto, whose roots are found in pre-Columbian agrarian

rituals and African festivals. As in other Latin American countries, Protestant communities

of different denominations have made their appearance in recent years.

Economy: Colombia is an emerging economy and an economic power of the region. It is

also part of the emerging countries block CIVETS, the World Trade Organization (WTO)

and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Its GDP PPA

ranks fourth in Latin America behind Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, as well as being 28th

globally. Colombia's nominal GDP is the fourth highest in Latin America after those of

Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, and ranks 29th worldwide. The financial sector in the nation

has grown by 6.7% between 2005-2010, due to the favorable liquidity of the Colombian
economy. In 2012, the services sector accounted for 55.1% of Colombia's GDP, while 68%

of 23.08 million Colombians were part of the labor force in this sector.

The economy of Colombia has experienced an average annual growth of 5.5% since

2002. In 2012, 23.8 million Colombians served as a labor force in the economy, with an

average income of US $ 10 700, producing US $ 500 billion for the Internal Product. Gross

(GDP) of the country. However, the inequality in the distribution of wealth keeps 29.3%

(2014) of Colombians living below the national poverty line, to which is added the

deficient pension system. Since 2011, unemployment has scored one digit (9.2% in

November 2011) and underemployment 32.7% (November 2011).

The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit defines, formulates and executes the

economic policy of the country. The national currency is the Colombian peso. The Banco

de la República is an independent body that controls the amount of money and currency

exchange control circulating in the economy to avoid recessions and unemployment due to

inflation, in addition to controlling interbank credit. Together, the MHCP and the BRC

regulate the functioning of the economy at the national level with the support of the

Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MCIT). The business sector of Colombia is

grouped in the National Association of Industrialists (ANDI), which tries to maintain

groups of companies from the same economic sector to act in common agreement for

development.

PBI: The industrial sector has had sustained growth in recent years. In the year 2000,

production in manufacturing was US $ 29,240 million, in 2010 it reached approximately

US $ 80,000 million. The production of medium and high technology goods stands out in

this period, which went from 31.7% in 2000 to 34.6% in 2010. The economic opening to
foreign markets has favored exports of high and medium technology products. These went

from $ US2, 251 million to US $ 4,868 in 2010, which represents 35% of the industry's

exports.

On the other hand, the construction sector in Colombia had an approximate growth of

7.9% in the first decade. In contrast to the GDP of the Colombian economy that had a

growth of 5.9% in 2011. In the first half of the decade of the year 2000 the buildings had a

growth of 8.3%. In the years 2009, 2010 and for 2011 there was a growth of 6.2% in the

first three months of this year. Civil works have grown during the first decade, at an

average of 8.0%, this growth is associated with the needs of the country in infrastructure.

One of the fastest growing sectors has been the mining-energy sector, which is made up

of the subsectors of mining, oil, gas and energy. In the last decade this sector went from US

$ 8300 million in 2000, to more than US $ 40 000 million in 2011. The oil sector in

Colombia has had a growth of 3.4% in the last decade. In recent years the exploratory

activity has increased, in 2008 it was 15.4%, in 2009 it was 15.4%; 2010 16.9% and the

first three months of 2011 a growth of 17.7%. In this period there has been a strengthening

of the National Hydrocarbons Agency. As for the energy sector, it registered a growth of

3.0. The sector of mines and quarries has had a growth of 6.5%. The contribution to GDP

of the production of mining, oil and electric power would be equivalent to 12.5% of total

GDP. But the weight of different subsectors is different. The oil sector contributes 7.1% to

total GDP, mining 2.7%, electric 2.3% and gas production 0.5%.

The electricity sector is mainly dominated by hydraulic energy generation (67% of

production) and thermal generation (27.4%) in 2010, generating electricity this year was

56,877.6 GWH. However, the country's potential in new renewable energy technologies
(mainly wind, solar and biomass) has hardly been explored. The country has significant

resources of small hydro, wind, and solar that remain largely unexploited. According to a

study by the World Bank's Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, the

exploitation of the country's great wind potential could cover more than all of its current

energy needs. 80% of the installed capacity in Colombia for electricity production comes

from renewable energy.

In terms of mining, the most exploited minerals are gold, silver, emeralds, platinum,

copper, nickel, coal. One of the most important extractions is the Cerrejón coal mine in La

Guajira, which is the largest open pit coal mine in Latin America. The exploitation of gold

and copper dates from the pre-Columbian era and developed in the Andean area of the

country, with ethnic groups such as the Muiscas, the Quimbaya, the Tayrona and the

Zénues, which are still heavily exploited by hand, there is a great amount of illegality , and

for some years multinationals have begun to be part of this business. Worldwide, it is the

main producer of emeralds, concentrating its exploitation in the interior of the country, in

departments such as Boyacá and Cundinamarca. For its part, oil is mostly exploited by

Ecopetrol. In Barrancabermeja is the largest oil refinery in the country.

Inflation: The National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) revealed on

Saturday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), also known as inflation, was 3.18% during

2018.

This figure represents a decrease of 0.91 percentage points with respect to that registered

in 2017, when the inflation indicator stood at 4.09%.

 "What we are presenting today is a very satisfactory news for the country" and that

"gives confidence" to Colombian households and economic analysts, said the Director of

Dane, Juan Daniel Oviedo.

He added that "although the winter wave was very strong, particularly in the second half

of this year, we have the satisfaction of seeing that food inflation did not have a very

significant behavior throughout this year."

In general terms, this result means that inflation for the entire year 2018 (3.18 percent) is

2.82 points below the increase in the minimum wage agreed for 2019, which was 6 percent.

Which, in fact, represents a real improvement in the purchasing power of Colombian

households for the year that has just begun.

Economic indicators:

CURRENCIES IN PESOS COL.

TRM Dollar $ 3,174.79

Dollar Purchase (Exchange Houses) $ 2,730.00
Dollar Sale (Exchange Houses) $ 2,760.00
Euro $ 3,399.00
Euro Purchase (Exchange Houses) $ 3,450.00
Euro Sale (Exchange Houses) $ 3,485.00
Pound sterling $ 3,837.42
Swiss franc $ 2,897.00
Canadian dollar $ 2,188.64
Australian dollar $ 2,150.78
Real $ 774.83
Argentine Peso $ 102.89
Mexican peso $ 140.17
Chilean peso $ 456.34
Strong bolívar $ 284.70
Bolivar Fuerte (Cúcuta) $ 0.83

INDICES
COLCAP (Aug 6) 1,528.09

INTEREST RATES
Bank of the Republic (30 Apr 2018) 4.25%
IBR (3 months term) 4.136%
DTF E.A. (90 days) 4.59%
Banking Credit Cte. (Consumption and ordinary)
Bank interest. (Jan-1 to Mar-31) 22.34%
Usury Rate (Jun-01 to Jun-30) 30.42%

REFERENCE RATES
U.V.R. $ 263,9908
Monthly Inflation (Feb-2018) 0.71%
Annual Inflation (2018) 0.63%
Airport Rate (Mar-28 to Apr-13) $ 124,300
Monthly Unemployment (Jan-2018) 11.8%
Annual Unemployment (2017) 9.4%
Minimum salary $ 828,116
Transportation Assistance $ 97,032
UVT $ 34,270
 Foreign Trade: In 2012, agriculture in Colombia contributed 6.8% to the national GDP

and 18% of the labor force was devoted to agriculture, livestock and fisheries. However,

Colombia's main export product is oil, whose estimated reserves are 2,377 million barrels

in 2012, which are developed by Ecopetrol, in March 2013 there were 1 013 481 barrels of

oil per day.

Likewise, the textile, food, automotive and petrochemical industries stand out. Also, the

processing of food, the production of coffee, oil, beverages, cement, gold, coal, emeralds,

nickel, cut flowers, bananas, among others. Colombia's exports amounted to US $ 59.96

billion in 2012,194 The foreign trade sector, comprised of the country's imports and

exports, grew by more than 30% in 2011. In recent years, the country has signed different

trade agreements with other countries, several of them currently in force.

Culture of doing business: Negotiating in Colombia can be just as easy or difficult as

doing it with any other country in the world. Colombians manage a very simple business

culture characterized by carrying out business relationships, through dialogue and

knowledge of the market with which they want to link.

The culture defined as the set of knowledge, traditions, uses and customs is unique to

each social structure or community, from which it is learned and transmitted from

generation to generation. In this way, the business culture can be applied in a more serious

environment involving a particular society: entrepreneurs.

In a company it is very important to maintain a defined business culture or protocol,

since from this is going to characterize and mark the difference of the product and the
image that the organization will represent to entrepreneurs who want to establish business

relationships.

In order for the business culture to be carried out in the best way, each member of a

company must have knowledge about the mission and vision. These two points reflect the

reason for the existence of the company, the objectives and the ideology, etc., since in one

way or another they are defining the negotiation protocol of the organization.

Similarly, negotiating with a national or international entrepreneur is a great

opportunity that will open the doors to the entity. Therefore, the negotiation tips or

protocols are a strategy that all those interested in negotiating must handle, since culture

influences and it is important to know what customs the counterpart handles.

Guidelines to be taken into account when entering the Colombian market: schedules,

holidays, appointments and meeting places, costumes, gifts, greetings, meetings.

Unemployment: The global participation rate was 63.9% and the employment rate was

56.4%. ... In February 2019 the unemployment rate in the total of the 13 cities and

metropolitan areas was 12.4%, the global participation rate 65.8% and the occupancy rate

57.6%.

Bibliography:

 Colombia (2019) Territorial organization. Available on the internet at:

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombia#Organizaci%C3%B3n_territorial

 Inflation for 2018 Colombia closed at 3.18% (January_2019). Available on the

internet at:
 https://id.presidencia.gov.co/Paginas/prensa/2019/190105-Inflacion-de-2018-en-

Colombia-cerro-en-3-18.aspx

 Bank of the Republic of Colombia, Ind.Eco. (2019). Available on the internet at:

http://www.banrep.gov.co/es/bie

 Economic indicators. Current (2019). Available on the internet at:

https://dolar.wilkinsonpc.com.co/indicadores-economicos.html

 Business in Colombia. Available on the internet at:

https://www.legiscomex.com/Documentos/cultura-negocios-colombia-rci308