France, belles et merveilleuses femmes de ce pays!!. French have contributed in huge to Colombia development. French women came to Colombia to improve the education and health in XIX century, and they are working and doing an important job around Colombia still. The Religious Sisters of Charity teach around Colombia through 15 offices. French were part of Simon Bolivar’s troops to achieve the Colombia independence also. Moreover, they designed important buildings around Colombia such as Liévano Palace in Bogotá. Nowadays, there are 3,900 French in Colombia where 49% are females, they settled down in Bogotá, Pereira, Medellín and Cali mainly. There are important French firms in Colombia that contribute with economic development such as L’Oreal, Sodexo and Schlumberger. The international trade has shown a decline because of globalization, WWI and WWII, but Colombia exports a bunch of products as France does also. However, there is an issue to sort out where France can contribute in deep; it is a better income distribution in Colombia as in many other countries also. Of course, this issue is in the Millennium Goals; the idea is to reduce the unfair income distribution to the lowest level ever, and global public policies are the tool to achieve this goal.
Author: Humberto Bernal,
Economist,
e-mail: zhumber@gmail.com
Twitter: Humberto_Bernal
French in Colombia started to come to Colombia before her independence, and they have contributed to economic development. Many French came to Colombia before her independence because they heard about El Dorado Gold Legend; they came to search adventures and wealth also. French supported Colombia independence at the beginning of XIX century through soldiers and scientists. The principal Simón Bolívar doctor was Próspero Révérend; he worked for Republican troops. At the end of XIX century, they invested huge economic resources for extracting gold and silver from Antioquia mines and Chocó mines; some of these mines were Guarino and Timbiquí. French invested huge economic resource in Panama Canal also, but they did not finish this project; they invested FR$2 billion in Panama Canal (US$10.6 billion at 2012 prices) and invested FR$6 million between 1875-1904 in extraction of gold and silver in Colombia (US$24 million at 2012 prices).
There were few immigration from France to Colombia at the beginning of XX century, but those who came to Colombia improved geography science; they designed many important buildings in Colombia such as Liévano Palace under direction of Gastón Lelarge; this French was so important in designing many other buildings in Colombia such as National Capitol and the San Pedro Claver church.
French women have had an important role in Colombia development; they came during XIX and they are working so hard in Colombia still. These Religious Sisters of Charity have contributed with Colombia education and health. Nowadays, they have about 15 local communities around Colombia.
French citizens in Colombia have increased from 163 in 1843 to 3,900 in 2010 as figure 1 shows. There was an important immigration during Second World War (WWII); after it, the volume of French in Colombia did not show an important increase until 2000; from this year, French have found Colombia enjoyable because the security has improved. The volume of French kidnapped went from 27 cases registered between 1980 and 2000 to 7 between 2001 and 2008. In 2012, there were a French journalist that was kidnapped, but it was released in short time because government and guerrilla have been in a peace process.
Figure 1. French population in Colombia 1843-2010
(number of people)
Source: Census, World Bank Data and France Embassy.
French in Colombia have settled down in Bogotá with 53.6% of total French in Colombia, Pereira with 10.1%, Medellín with 4.4%, Cali with 2.9% and many others such as Barranquilla and Filandia; figure 2 shows the main French distribution in Colombia. Their age distribution is 25.4% for those French between 1 and 15 years; 56.5% for those between 16 and 65 years old; and 18.1% for those older. Those French females are 48.6% and the others are males. Most of French that live in Colombia reached their university studies; they account 49.3%, and most of them work in education sector. Finally, there are 42.7% that are employees at important firms in Colombia. Unfortunately there are 6 French that are in troubles with Colombia Law. This information come from Census 2005, Immigration Office in Colombia and INPEC.
Figure 2. French in Colombia by municipality 2005-2010
(share of total French %)
Source: Bureau of Economic of Statistics Colombia (DANE).
Big business between France and Colombia
Big business between these two countries started since Colombia independence, and they have brought an important development in Colombia. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as stock went from US$2.8 million at 2012 prices in 1900 to US$1.5 billion in 2012 as figure 3 shows. The main investment from France in Colombia was the Canal of Panama, but Panama took her path in 1903. However, France invested in gold and silver extraction during last and first years of XIX and XX century; this type of extraction was learned by locals. After this investment, French invested few resource, but her contribution was mainly in infrastructure and agriculture. After the WWII, they set up important firms in Colombia such as Rallye in 1950 (nowadays through Casino Group in retail sales); Parenco in 1971 (this firm invested huge economic resources in 1993 in crude oil sector); L’Oreal in 1993 (Make up sector); Carrefour in 1997 (in retail sector, but unfortunately this firm left Colombia in 2012-13); and Sodexo Pass 1994 (in eating places).
Figure 3. FDI as stock from France in Colombia 1900-2012*
(US$ million at chained prices of 2012)
* The FDI in Panama Canal is not taking into account in this figure. It was about FR$2,000 million in 1887 (US$10.6 billion at 2012 prices).
Source: United Nations. 1965. External Financing in Latin America; Rippy. 1948. French Investment in Latin America; De Lombarde. 1997. La Inversión Extranjera en Colombia; Central Bank Colombia.
Nowadays, the most important French firms in Colombia are Hocol (Crude oil sector) based in Bogotá; Schlumberger (Electric power sector); and Sofasa (Renault, auto-parts). There are 35 big firms from France in Colombia at the end of 2012; they are located mainly in Bogotá, Medellín and Barranquilla respectively.
In terms of international trade, there are an important contribution to economic development between these two countries, but the trade shows a declined trend. Figure 4 shows that at the end of XIX century the trade between France and Colombia was higher, but the globalization, the WWI and WWII pushed down this trade. It is satisfactory to know that Colombia contributed with France reconstruction after WWII, the value exported was US$103 million when Colombia used to export as much US$7 million (it is the peak of 18.3% in figure 4, this number can be overvalued, but come from official data in 1949). The trade balance between these countries has been in favor of France since 1953. By 2012, the trade balance was US$847.9 million in favor of France. The main exports from Colombia to France are mineral fuels such as coal and crude oil; fruits, flowers and few textiles are important also. Colombia imports from France crude oil refined, machinery for industrial production and organic chemicals. One can say that the trade between these counties is mixed, so they trade high added goods and low added goods.
Figure 4. Trade index France-Colombia 1885-2012
(%, trade indicator*)
Source: United Nations; Urrutia. 1970. Own calculations. Compendio de estadísticas de Colombia.
The economic cycles between France and Colombia has changed. Before 1991, they showed a cyclical movement, so as France faced an economic growth, Colombia followed this path; however, in the last years this common movement changed to be contra-cycle. It is expected that France shows an important positive change in her GDP cycle; her cycle can finish 2013 with an upward tendency.
Figure 5. France and Colombia GDP cycle
1977 - 2013
(quarterly data normalized)
Source: FED ST. Louis and Bureau of Statistics Colombia (DANE). Own calculations Stata 12.1.
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