Colombia Peace Accord: The Benefits
Colombia’s benefits of a peace accord with FARC.
BY JOACHIM BAMRUD
Colombia may only see a small economic benefit from the likely peace agreement with leftist rebels FARC rebels, but the symbolic value will be greater, experts say.
Colombia’s government has been negotiating a peace agreement with FARC since November 2012. In September last year, President Juan Manuel Santos announced an agreement would be signed by March 23, 2016, but negotiations continue. [On June 23, 2016, FARC and the government signed a cease fire agreement).
Santos estimates that Colombia’s GDP will get an additional 1.5 to 2 percent boost with a peace agreement. Colombia’s National Planning Department (DNP) estimates that GDP could grow annually between 1.1 and 1.9 percent.
Meanwhile, Colombian think tank Fedesarrollo estimates that the cost of implementing the accord will shave off 1 percent of GDP.
In other words: the economic benefit of the FARC peace agreement could be small.
Colombian economist Alberto Bernal, Chief Global and EM Strategist, XP Securities, ....
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Keywords: Business, GDP, Infrastructure, Oil,