Colombia economy grew 2% year-on-year in third quarter, market expected 2.3%

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's economy grew 2% in the third quarter from the year-earlier period, the government's DANE statistics agency said on Monday.

The result came in below market expectations of 2.3% in a Reuters poll last week and the central bank technical team's 2.4% forecast.

The economy grew by 0.2% compared with the second quarter of 2024, DANE added.

The expansion between July and September was driven by entertainment, which grew 14.1%, agriculture, which grew by 10.7%, and finance, which expanded 4.4%, DANE director Piedad Urdinola said during the press conference.

The mining contracted by 7.1%, while manufacturing shrank by 1.3%, DANE said.

Private investment in the third quarter of 2024 grew by 22.7% versus the year-earlier period, DANE said.

(Reporting by Carlos Vargas and Nelson Bocanegra; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb)

By Carlos Vargas and Nelson Bocanegra