Production Transformation Policy Review of Colombia
Unleashing Productivity
Colombia, the fourth largest economy in Latin America, is back on track after decades of conflict. The country is looking to open up opportunities by addressing structural challenges, further benefiting from trade and investment, and increasing productivity. Colombia's march towards prosperity requires transforming the economy through a renewed policy approach that prioritises an expanded knowledge base, unlocks regional potential and fast tracks digital technologies. The success will depend on Colombia’s capacity to leverage its long-standing planning capacity and its ability to bring together all the relevant stakeholders.
The Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) of Colombia provides a novel and timely assessment of the country's industrialisation strategies. It relies on international peer learning and domestic consensus building, and benefited from knowledge sharing through the OECD Initiative for Policy Dialogue on Global Value Chains, Production Transformation and Development.
Country profile
Colombia is a unitary country with an administrative structure born of the constitutional reform of 1991. It is composed of 32 administrative departments and the Capital District of Bogota. Departments are divided into a total of 1 101 municipalities. Among them, five – Cartagena, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Buenaventura, Santa Marta and Villa de Mompox – are categorised as special districts due to their particular political, commercial, historical, industrial, cultural or environmental characteristics, according to a new regime adopted in 2013, and updated in 2017. Each department has a local government with a governor and assembly directly elected for four-year terms, and each municipality is headed by a mayor and a local council. The 1991 Constitution also accords special status to certain territories: 87 indigenous territories that account for 3.4% of the total population (DANE, 2006[1]).