Resource information
This document presents the recently
elected Colombian administration with a set of policy notes
meant to enrich the debate around critical issues affecting
the country's development. These notes build mostly
upon existing research and represent the Bank's
independent view on topics which are either at the crux of
ongoing policy discussions or merit a more prominent place
in this dialogue. This window of opportunity provides a very
favorable setting for advancing aggressive interventions to
further alleviate poverty and inequality. Even as a country
with a long history of solid growth and stable democratic
institutions, poverty remains a critical issue for Colombia.
Years of consistent economic growth throughout the 1980s and
early 1990s lifted many out of poverty, but the
macroeconomic crisis at the end of the 1990s eradicated more
than a decade of progress. The notes have been grouped
around four strategic issues: challenges and constraints for
the reform process, investing in people, laying the
foundations for competitiveness, and reducing
vulnerabilities. To this end, a national strategy for
comprehensive peace, reconciliation and equitable
development needs to be strengthened with the following
elements: (i) a continued national level effort to create
incentives for the demobilization of illegal armed groups,
(ii) attention to the internally displaced population, who
are the most visible and numerous victims of the conflict,
(iii) mainstreaming inequality reduction interventions into
key sectors, and (iv) local and regional community-led
economic development and social capital building plans,
inclusive of vulnerable and demobilized populations, all of
which would contribute to prevent the recurrence of the
armed conflict.
