Finance Minister Speaks of Weakness

While stories about bankruptcies and bailouts in Wall Street and Washington D.C. may make people think America’s financial woes have infiltrated the globe, the Colombian finance minister proved that positive economic news can come from unexpected sources: in this case, the Colombian economy.

Oscar Iván Zuluaga spoke last night about the recent strength of the Colombian economy to an audience of nearly 100 people—composed mainly of Colombians living in the Boston area—in the Tsai Auditorium in the Center for Government and International Studies.

In a lecture entitled “The Strengths and Challenges of Colombia’s Economy,” Zuluaga used a PowerPoint presentation filled with tables and graphs to illustrate to the audience evidence that Colombia has had “the best economic growth during the last 5 years, averaging 5.1 percent per year.”

He explained that since 2004, the Colombian government has poured significant sums of money into improving Columbia’s attractiveness to foreign investors.

As a consequence, the demand for domestic labor and the foreign direct investment have both greatly increased in the past four years.

While the minister praised his own country’s economic performance, he criticized America for allowing its own economy to fall into a state of crisis.

“We are facing one of the worst financial crises during the past century.” Zuluaga said.

“This economic crisis has rooted from the most advanced economy, from the motherland of some of the brightest economists we have, from the sector that was considered to be the safest in the world: America.”

But Zuluaga said he thought that although the waves from the financial fiasco from the U.S. might affect the Colombian economy, the country will still enjoy “a higher growth potential compared to its historical performance.”

Audience member Maria P. Mogollon ’03, who is in her second year at Harvard Business School and is the president of the Colombia Caucus at the Harvard Kennedy School, a group which co-sponsored the event, said that Zuluaga’s speech would help correct the country’s negative image.

“Colombia is a country that is still being perceived, in spite of its dramatic growth and both economy and politics during the past decade, as the images of 1980s: crimes, drugs and poverty.” Mogollon said.

“This presentation was designed to let the general public and Colombians in Boston know about the strengths and developments of the country.”