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Economic growth in Spain has been based on extensive factors (which may be temporary): incorporating more people into the labor market has been decisive. In contrast, productivity (the intensive and unlimited factor of growth) has yet to take off.

The imbalance between the value of our assets abroad and of Spanish assets held by foreigners has narrowed from almost 100% of GDP 10 years ago, to just 44% of GDP at the end of 2024.

Banking activity, understood as the channeling of savings into investment, is not restricted only to the local market with its domestic sectors, but also a relevant part is carried out by banks in their international activity.

In contrast to the dynamism of government expenditures and service exports observed in recent years, the poor performance of private consumption stands out, only slightly better than that of investment.

Wealth stagnation may be influencing consumption and investment decisions. The recovery of prices in the real estate sector will help to improve the trend. However, the concentration of wealth in housing has negative externalities.

Savings in Colombia have decreased, affecting investment in key sectors. Increasing disposable income and savings is crucial to fostering economic growth. Policies should focus on promoting savings and productive investment.

The saving rate in Colombia transitioned from satisfactory levels to finance investment and long-term growth at the end of the first decade of this century and the beginning of the second, to a level that is among the lowest in the world and in its history by 2023: this is the main cause of the current low investment.

In 2022, 34.7 million adults had at least one formal financial product in Colombia. This is more than fourteen million more than in 2012. With this, in the last decade, the percentage of adults with some financial product increased from 67.2% to 92.3%.