In his weekly column Clear Accounts, Mauricio Galindo, economic editor of EL TIEMPO, offers the curious figures surrounding the news that happened in the last seven days.
According to the criteria of
What is the point of being the greatest in the world?
Since some years, China is the world’s largest economy. Its GDP has a purchasing power of 22% higher than that of the US. according to OECD compilation. However, this GDP allows real consumption per inhabitant in China to be 36% less than in Colombia. That is to say, people, on average, in Colombia have more well-being than in China, and the bright images of their cities do not correspond to total reality.
Workers who are not being born
Concerning the pension reform is the pay-as-you-go system. In 2010, the population aged 60 or over was 10.2% of the population, but By 2020, people of that age were already 13.6%. Now, just 4 years later, they are 15%, and in 5 years they will be 17%. In the pay-as-you-go system, current workers contribute to pay retirees. But young workers… are not being born!
Colombia Mayor delivers subsidies monthly.
Photo:Department for Social Prosperity
Although less, they are still the most profitable
The mining sector (which includes oil companies) continues to be the most profitable business in Colombia despite sharp declines in sales and profits. According to information compiled by Supersociedades, in 2023 its sales fell by 13.6% and profits plunged by 44.1%. But the return on assets was 10.8%, higher than other sectors, although below the 17.9% of 2022.
The weight of Ecopetrol in the productive apparatus
Sales of all 1,000 of the country’s largest companies grew by 3.8% in 2023, but if Ecopetrol’s results are not taken into account, This increase is almost two points more, 5.6 percent. Meanwhile, the profits of the 1,000 largest companies plummeted by 24.2%, but excluding Ecopetrol (which fell by 42.9%) the decline is 6.5 percentage points less, and stands at 17.7%.
