The effect of protests rocking Colombia on the country’s economy will prove to be minimal, said two prominent economists on Thursday.
Santiago Melo, analyst at brokerage firm Alianza Valores, told Colombia Reports that the students strikes and petroleum worker protests will not spook foreign investors considering investing in Colombia.
Melo said the demonstrations will have more of an impact on national investors than those abroad, and that the impact in the short term would be very marginal and very small.
Andres Tovar, director of economic studies of brokerage firm Acciones y Valores, told Caracol Radio the protests are isolated incidents which in no way will effect industrial production or the trade of Colombia’s exports.
“We are maintaining a healthy rhythm of exports and very good tax payments for the country, so there tranquility in this aspect,” the economist told the radio station.
Tovar ruled out possibility that student demonstrations and the protests at petroleum plants will decrease Colombia’s output. He estimated the Colombian economy will register a 5.5% growth, which according to the economist is an indication the economy is going through a good patch.
Colombia has seen a number of strikes of oil workers and a month-long student strike that on several occasions caused the capital Bogota to be virtually shut down.
The Education Minister Maria Fernanda Campo said that the student strikes have cost the country $78.6 million.
