Regional Economic Bulletin: Southwest, fourth quarter of 2025
The Regional Economic Bulletin is published by the Regional Economies Section of the Technical and Economic Information Department at Banco de la República. The views and potential errors are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not compromise Banco de la República or its Board of Directors.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the southwest region moderated its annual growth due to a slowdown in retail consumption. This performance was accompanied by slower growth in imports of consumer goods and intermediate goods for industry. On the supply side, manufacturing and construction activity declined, while the agricultural and livestock sector grew in a context of greater food supply and stable demand. Exports increased due to coffee exports, although lower sugarcane production reduced shipments of sugar and confectionery. Employment increased, but so did informality, and inflation slowed its decline, leading to more cautious consumption throughout the region.
Industrial production declined due to the closure of facilities in the paper sector and the lower manufacturing of metal products, food and beverages, and textiles, which reduced the import of intermediate goods. In addition, the lower dynamism of retail trade, associated with moderate household consumption, limited growth.
Coffee exports increased supported by high international prices and stronger demand. However, external sales slowed due to reduced shipments of sugar and confectionery following lower sugarcane production. Meanwhile, agricultural and livestock supply increased within the context of lower production costs, which lowered food inflation.
The labor market showed lower unemployment rates and higher employment, although informality levels increased and salaried employment declined. Inflationary pressure on goods and services, together with reduced construction activity and moderate trade limited the companies’ capacity to generate new formal jobs.
Regional Economic Bulletin published to date (since 2025)
In order to present this content to the English-speaking public, since 2025 Banrep has been providing translations of the summaries. The full document, as well as the interactive bulletin, are published only in Spanish.
