Colombia’s major commercial cities advanced little or fell behind in 2012 in competitiveness and innovation rankings for Latin America’s urban hubs.
According to America Economia’s 2012 ICUR rankings of 46 Latin American cities, Colombia’s port city Barranquilla and commercial hub Medellin sank in rankings. Bogota remained at the 8th spot under Panama City, Panama. Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, advanced from 30 to 31.
Colombian cities generally scored poorly on transportation but Bogota ranked fourth under Miami, United States, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Panama City for attractiveness of foreign investment and Medellin received full marks for its environmental sustainability practices.
Colombia as a whole was ranked 6th world wide in transition to sustainable energy practices by the World Economic Forum in December of last year.
According to a 2012 report from the WEF, the biggest challenged facing Colombia’s economic competitiveness is terrorism, organized crime and violence with the country ranking worst overall in the cost of business to terrorism.
BACKGROUND: Terrorism cost to business in Colombia is worst in the world
Annually, ICUR, an urban competitiveness ranking, measures 46 cities across Latin America based on social and political framework, economic dynamism, business services, executive services, infrastructure and physical connectivity, human capital, environmental sustainability and brand power.
