Colombia’s Minister of Finance and Public Credit Recognized as the best in Latin America
The Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia, José Manuel Restrepo, was recognized by LatinFinance magazine as the best Minister of Finance in Latin America. The magazine mentioned that Colombia looks in good shape in its macroeconomic performance, despite all the challenges generated by the pandemic, inflation, the increase in interest rates in the world and the implications of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Colombia’s National Government extended the measures of import and export programs
In order to contribute to the economic reactivation process of Colombia, the National Government issued Decree 379 of 2022, through which it extends until December 31st, 2023 public measures regarding access and compliance with export commitments in the Special Import and Export Systems programs of raw materials, capital goods, spare parts and export of services. The Decree came into force from the day after its publication and modified Decree 1371 of 2020.
Modification of the Resolution regulating the Ultimate Beneficial Owner Registry – (RUB, per its acronym in Spanish)
The main changes implemented by Resolution 37 of March 17th, 2022, are as follows:
1. Entities required to report
Foreign entities will have the obligation to report their Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) when all their investments in Colombia are held in vehicles different than entities with or without autonomous legal status or Permanent Establishments required to provide information about UBO.
Before, the obligation to report the UBO was applicable to foreign entities that owned assets in Colombia and such assets represented more than 50% of their total assets.
2. Timeline to provide information about UBO
Entities incorporated prior to September 30th, 2022 (previously January 15th, 2022) are required to report their UBO by December 31st, 2022 (previously September 30th).
3. Registration in the Structures Without Autonomous Legal Status Identification System
Structures without autonomous legal status or similar structures incorporated prior to September 30th, 2022 (previously January 15th, 2022), which are not required to register in the RUT must register in the Identification System for Structures Without Autonomous Legal Capacity or similar, through the Tax Office website, by December 31st, 2022 (previously September 30th, 2022).
Colombia’s GDP variation for January was 7.79% compared to January 2021, according to the Economic Monitoring Indicator (ISE)
Colombia’s National Administrative Department of Statistics published the Technical Bulletin monitoring the country’s economy for January 2022. According to the indicator, the Gross Domestic Product grew 7.79% compared to January 2021.
When disaggregated by groups of activities, primary activities (agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing; and mining) grew by 2.71% compared to January last year, secondary activities (manufacturing and construction) showed a growth of 12.36% and, finally, tertiary activities had a growth of 8.33%.
Projections of Intervention Rate, Inflation and Representative Market Rate according to Colombia’s Central Bank
Expectations about the evolution of inflation are higher than those presented last month. The expected inflation for the end of 2022 is 6.42%, almost one percentage point above the 5.44% estimated in the previous survey. By December 2023, it is expected to drop to 3.83%, still above the previous estimate of 3.69%.
Regarding the exchange rate, expectations placed the TRM (representative market rate) at COP 3,850 per 1 dollar by the end of 2022, with a drop to COP 3,810 by March 2023. For December 2023, the estimates went from COP 3,661 to COP 3,800.