ZCZC
BCN-12
COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA-MIGRATION-ECONOMY
Flood of Venezuela migrants costing Colombia 0.5% of GDP: president
BOGOTA, Sept 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Venezuela’s migrant crisis is costing
neighboring Colombia about 0.5 percent of GDP — or around $1.3 billion —
its President Ivan Duque said Friday after talks with a top World Bank
official.
Duque said Colombia would continue its “open arms” policy towards migrants
from its crisis-worn neighbor but the economic and social costs on his
country had to be evaluated.
“The economic impact that the migration crisis may have can be of the
order of 0.5 percent of GDP and obviously we want ot look at how that is
reflected in health, in education, in infrastructure, in many public assets,”
the president said.
Duque was speaking after talks in Bogota with the World Bank’s vice
president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jorge Familiar.
Familiar said the bank would deliver a detailed report on the social
impact of the crisis on Colombia in a few weeks.
Duque said it would “serve to guide” his government in dealing with the
crisis.
The UN says 2.3 million Venezuelans are living outside the country, with
1.6 million having fled since 2015. An estimated 90 percent have fled to
other Latin American countries.
Colombia has taken in more than a million Venezuelans.
Familiar praised Colombia’s leadership in the migration crisis, but said
“this is a regional issue that will require a regional response.”
Duque’s administration, like that of his predecessor Juan Manuel Santos,
has branded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro a dictator.
Oil income-dependent Venezuela’s economic woes began in 2014 with the
crash in the price of crude.
BSS/AFP/HR/0925