In his weekly column Cuentas Claras, Mauricio Galindo, economic editor of EL TIEMPO, offers curious data on the news that happened in the last 7 days.
On this occasion, as a monarchy it is the best economy in the world, according to The Economist; How is unemployment in the OECD countries, the growth of the Colombian economy, the constant in which the blockades of the roads and highways of the country have become, among others.
A Monarchy is the best democracy
The best democracy in the world is a monarchy, according to The Economist: Norway, the kingdom of Harald V, scores 9.81 out of 10, and is considered a complete democracy. Afghanistan is last on the list (167), and with a note of 0.32 it is classified as an authoritarian regime, the same as Cuba (139) or Nicaragua (143). Worse than the previous two is Venezuela (147). Colombia is 53 and is classified as an imperfect democracy.
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Unemployment is still higher than before the covid
Among the OECD countries with the highest unemployment rates, These are already below the unemployment levels that existed before the covid, in February 2020. The highest unemployment is in Spain, at 13.1%, but it is down compared to 13.6% pre-covid. In Greece it fell from 16.4 to 11.6%. In Costa Rica, from 12.6 to 11.7%. In Turkey it went from 12.6 to 10.3%. But in Colombia it increased, from 11.2, 3 years ago, to 11.4%.
This is how the slowdown comes accelerating
The economy grew 7.5% in the full 2022. The figure may be one of the highest in the world, but it also shows the slowdown in Colombia if one takes into account that it had grown 12.9% in the full year ending in February. The slowdown is seen more clearly if it is taken into account that only in Decemberactivity growth was only 1.3%, the lowest in 22 months.
The expenses that households already cut
Amid the slowdown in the country’s economy, household consumption, which grew at a rate of 13.9% in the middle of last year, slowed to 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to Dane. Where households already spent less was in restaurants and hotels, with a fall of 1.4%. For their part, purchases of furniture and household items fell 0.1% and spending on food only increased 0.9%.
Mauricio Galindo
Economics Editor
A Twitter: @galmau
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