Economy

Colombia's economy used to be primarily agricultural, with coffee and sugar as the largest contributors to the gross domestic product (GDP). The most significant growth has come in the oil industry, which was insignificant at the start of the 1980s. By the end of the 1990s it had surpassed coffee as the country's most valuable (legal) export. By 2017, oil and coal contributed 54 percent of Colombian export earnings. Other major exports are emeralds, coffee, nickel, cut flowers, bananas, and apparel. Some major imports are industrial equipment, transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, paper products, fuels, and electricity. The United States is Colombia's largest trading partner, representing about a third of Colombia's exports and a quarter of its imports. Colombia’s GDP per capita is $14,400 (2017 est.) which is relatively low compared to other Latin American countries and the population below the poverty line is 28% (2017 est.). The labor force is primarily made up of people that work in services (62 percent), industry (21 percent), and agriculture (17 percent). Major companies in Colombia include Ecopetrol, Bancolombia, Grupo Bolívar and some industries are textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement, gold, coal, and emeralds. Colombia uses pesos as its form of currency and there are 2,957 Colombian pesos (COP) per US dollar (2017 est.). Overall, Colombia has an economy that is improving and growing.