Ease of access to markets
Colombia is ranked 67th out of a possible 190 economies on the World Bank’s ease of doing business scorecard, well above the Latin America and Caribbean average of 116.
Australia is currently negotiating its first FTA with Colombia through the Pacific Alliance regional trading block.
Colombia Imports Surged in May 2021:
Imports to Colombia surged by 52 percent over a year ago to USD 4.372 billion in May of 2021, following a 51 percent gain in the previous month. This large variation was mostly explained by the low baseline effect from the pandemic outbreak, and it was driven by increases in the purchases of manufactured products (59.4 percent). Among major trading partners, imports went up mainly from the US (36.7 percent) and China (39.1 percent).
Duty Free Zones 4.0:
The Colombian government issued a new law, which modified the current duty free zones regime in Colombia. The purpose is to improve its competitiveness within international markets, to promote the 4.0 Economy and services exports.
With the new duty free zones 4.0, Colombia is ahead with the best legislation in the LATAM region. Local and foreign businesses shall take advantage of this.
Duty Free Zones 4.0: dynamic and development for the country.
Taking into account the current social and economic landscape, this new regime aimed to adapt to a new ways of doing business within the duty free zones. The current government is prone to push for better e-commerce trading, and exports of services - both aspects are placed with the highest priority since the begging of the pandemic.
This model simplify requirements to access the duty free zones regimes, and therefore a new Technical Committee for Duty Free Zones has been created within the National System for Competitiveness and Innovation Framework.
Below 8 benefits of the duty free zones 4.0 in Colombia:
1
Acknowledgment of intangible assets - subject to the current regime of IP.
Overwrite the requirement of having a minimum area of 20 Hectares (for locations with less than 1mll of habitants).
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2
e-commerce facilities. so business7users will be enable to procure and trade goods and services.
Reduce the investment commitment in terms of %, up to 30% less. If they are located in areas with higher index of poverty.
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3
A great alternative to reduce level of investment commitments for the export of new services.
It provides an opportunity for new business to request new DFZ for activities such: Agroindustry, railroads, and Air traffic.
7
4
Permanent Duty Free Zones for special services, will have the opportunity to become fixed. Users will be assess as new exports of services.
It will match the same length of time, up to 30 years for new DFZ. And also it provides the possibility to add areas with non - or certain restrictions.
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SOURCES
World Bank.
Grupo Bancolombia.