Colombia stands on the brink of a peace deal with the FARC rebels, while its economy, buoyed by cycles of strong foreign investment levels and rising GDP growth, looks set to only get stronger. President Juan Manuel Santos tells Silvia Pavoni why the country's future looks brighter than ever.
Colombia might boast one of the strongest economies in Latin America but the country's finance minister, Mauricio Cardenas, is more than aware that its economic growth – largely dominated by its energy and mining sectors, which benefit only a small proportion of the population – needs to be diversified and its rewards better distributed.
Latin America's buoyant economies are attracting a slew of foreign institutions, with banks from within Latin America itself and from further afield establishing substantial networks across the continent. Unsurprisingly, the largest foreign-owned subsidiary presence is in Brazil, but the large domestic market has quelled Brazilian banks' ambitions elsewhere and it is Colombian lenders that are forging ahead with cross-border acquisitions.
A combination of responsible fiscal control, economic diversification and social inclusion make for a resilient economy. While Colombia has made significant strides towards achieving such equilibrium there is still headway to be made, with issues such as the country's stubbornly high unemployment rate, social inequality, and the threat from narcotraffickers still to be tackled.
Many of Latin America's high-net-worth individuals are repatriating their funds and an increasing number of foreign investors are targeting the region, thanks to its rapidly expanding economy. With such demand for local product providers, domestic firms are finding themselves having to pit their specialist knowledge against the international reach of large foreign banks, making competition tough.