Colombia | Update BBVA Tracker: Consumption in 2020. 6 January, 2021.

In 2020, in nominal terms, consumption fell 6.7% y/y, with a decline in services of -28.1% and growth in goods of 9.2% compared to 2019. Its maximum decline was observed in April (-40%) because of the effects of containment and the pandemic, and it has since gradually recovered.

Key points

• Key points:
• In the last month of 2020 a slowdown in consumption was registered, which was explained by an advance in spending in November and new restrictions in some regions.
• Spending on basic goods, such as food and health care, grew by an average of about 20% y/y in 2020 since the start of the pandemic.
• Online transactions grew by 20% per year prior to the end of the confinement, however, they moderated once the opening of the sector began.
• At the regional level, small cities with lower infection rates began to open up more quickly and this was evident in the recovery in consumption. Bogotá and Medellín registered falls of 11% and 13% y/y, higher than the national average.

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