IMF believes unemployment rate in Colombia will be highest in South America in 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published its forecast for the development of the unemployment rate in Colombia in 2021 as part of its update of macroeconomic projections. According to the IMF report, Colombia’s unemployment rate will end the year at 14.5%.

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The IMF’s vision, if true, would leave Colombia with the highest unemployment rate compared to its peers in South America (not including Venezuela).

It should be recalled that the IMF raised Colombia’s GDP forecast from 5.1% to 7.6% in 2021, while that of 2022 was improved from 3.6% to 3.8%. For the IMF, although Colombia has sufficient bases for reactivation, the fundamental challenge is precisely what may happen with the generation of new formal jobs.

The same challenge is seen by several analysts of the national market. It should be noted that, according to the Colombian Minister of Finance, José Manuel Restrepo, the country is also on the path of labor reactivation. Restrepo warned that Colombia has already recovered 82% of the jobs that were lost during the pandemic.

Finally, the IMF forecast indicates that Colombia’s unemployment rate could be reduced to 13.8% (also the highest in South America) by 2022 as long as the country maintains good levels of growth.