Colombia Expects Better Times

Colombia’s economy could grow 3% this year as sectors like tourism and agriculture boost an expansion, President Juan Manuel Santos said, Reuters reported. Colombia’s Finance Ministry currently expects gross domestic product growth of 2.7% this year. The economy, the fourth-largest in Latin America, grew 1.8% last year, the lowest level in eight years. “I think that this year we can grow perfectly 3%, and it’s an adequate growth in the face of circumstances,” Santos said in an interview with local Blu radio. The market expects GDP growth this year of 2.5%, according to a recent survey by Reuters. Economic weakness led Colombia’s central bank to cut its interest rate by 325 basis points to 4.5% between December 2016 and last month. Although the central bank has indicated the downward cycle of the benchmark rate has ended, its chief Juan Jose Echavarria said last week he did not rule out further cuts if inflation falls closer to the mid-point of the bank’s target range of 2% to 4%. Inflation last year was 4.09%.