Colombia’s retail sales and industrial output rose in January, extending a trend that shows the country’s economic growth is being mainly fueled by a surge in household consumption.
Retail sales jumped 12.3% in January from the same month a year earlier, while industrial output climbed 6.2%, the government’s statistics institute, known as DANE, said Thursday.
The retail sales surge in January was led by a 40.7% jump in the sale of motorcycles and automobiles, followed by a 37.9% increase in sales of computer equipment.
The Colombian central bank has pointed to strong consumer demand and private consumption as the backbone of the country’s economic growth last year. The central bank expects gross domestic product to have grown by 4% to 4.5% in 2010 and has the same projection for 2011.
(Darcy Crowe / Dow Jones Newswires)
