Page 17 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, OCTUBRE 2021 (English)

Colombia: Recovery and Preparation for the Presidential Election
The country is close to the economic levels of the prepandemic and growth of seven percent is expected. Meanwhile, politicians are preparing for the presidential elections in May next year, where the favorite is a candidate from the left, Gustavo Petro.
We are heading to have a growth of more than seven percent, which would be the best in this century, and this, at least, puts the Colombian economy in great dynamics, especially by recovering jobs, because we are already very close to being in pre-pandemic levels and, therefore, what we want is to continue improving job creation ”.
Laws and Elections
On the other hand, the Constitutional Court officially issued the sentence that gave the green light to the “New Bill and Smear Law”, which will allow more than 10 million Colombians to clean up their credit life and stop being negatively reported in credit bureaus. This initiative would give an amnesty that consists of eliminating the debtor notification to the people who fulfilled the pending obligations, six months after the payment.
In parallel, the country is preparing for the elections to be held on May 29, 2022, and in it the President and Vice President of the country for the period 2022-2026 will be chosen.
After two decades of dominance by the right, led by former president Álvaro Uribe, a large majority prefer the centre and analysts assure that whoever manages to position himself well in that segment will reach the presidency. But it is not that easy, given that six months before the elections there are many candidates and none of them exceed 10 percent in voting intention.
Gustavo Petro is the favourite, a leader of the left, who tops all the polls. He is a Colombian politician and economist of Italian descent, current Senator of the Republic for the 2018-2022 legislative period, founder of the Colombia Humana political movement. He was a candidate for the presidency of Colombia in 2010 and 2018.
Interview With En
The President Of Colombia
The President of Colombia, Ivan Duque sent to Congress a bill on Capital Market Reform, which is now in a position to face its second debate. The Head of States maintained that variable income experienced a low number of issuers compared to other countries in the Region and economies smaller than Colombia; the local market has been concentrated in fixed income products. “The reform that we have promoted precisely seeks to correct this historical backwardness and see many more issuers grow in the country, further underpinned by the deepening of vehicles such as venture capital funds and private equity funds, so that we have more companies with injection of money and that have access to the public market as a form of expansion ”, highlighted Duque.
The Development of the Country
According to the President, with the approval of this initiative, the market would be given greater depth, expanding the financing tools, which are reinforced by a modern regulatory framework for the development of fintech platforms and attracting investors in real time. .
“Colombia is becoming a place where equity funds, such as SoftBank or even KKR or Glaston, are seeing a space of possibilities; in addition, they are coming to our country, not only to offer services, but to establish their regional hubs ”, added the Head of Government. Regarding the Colombian pension system, Duque pointed out that the best way to make it sustainable is through labour formalization, which is why the minimum social floor has been an important tool to help create old-age protection in rural areas, where it registered a higher rate of informality.
He assured, on the other hand, that Colombia remains a very attractive country for investment and is seen today as the safest place for these purposes, to which is added a tax reform that would collect 1.8 percent of GDP and a social change that creates a favourable outlook for the future.
Regarding economic development, the president said that “in the second quarter we achieved the best quarterly growth of this century.
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