The share of the industry of Colombia in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) has shifted significantly in the last few decades.
Offenses against free competition, collusion, and abuses of market power were defined, and the SIC gained the capacity to sanction individuals and firms for violations.
[1] The National Association of Industrialists (Asociación Nacional de Empresarios de Colombia, or ANDI), the country's most important entrepreneurial organization, represents more than 650 member firms from a variety of sectors, including the manufacturing, financial, agro-industrial, and services sectors.
Since its creation in 1944, ANDI has been actively promoting the strengthening and competitiveness of private enterprise, state-owned companies, and public organizations.
In addition to taking a leading role among manufacturing organizations in Colombia, ANDI actively lobbies the executive and legislative branches of government.
Besides representing its members at regional, national, and international levels, ANDI is also a leader among business organizations in Colombia.
The resulting housing-price hike, with increases of 70 percent in real terms between 1990 and 1994, also led to significant mortgage expansion during those years.
Moreover, as real interest rates increased sharply in the second half of the 1990s, among other things as a response to the Asian and Russian economic crises when the value of housing assets began falling, many mortgage holders were exposed to negative equity, eventually losing their homes.
This situation further depressed the quality of mortgages and loan guarantees in general, leading to a bust in the housing market between 1997 and 2000.
Because of fiscal constraints, the government has promoted greater involvement of the private sector in maintaining and developing infrastructure.
The cement sector survived the housing crises between 1996 and 2000 by reorienting production toward export markets, including the United States.
The United States is the main export market for Colombian textiles and apparel, followed by the members of the Andean Community and Mexico.
The United States extended these trade preferences to Colombia and other Andean countries because of their continuing fight against the production and distribution of illegal drugs.
The Ardila Lülle Organization is the largest producer of soft drinks and the Santo Domingo Group, of beer.
Overall, Colombia is a net importer of vehicles, mainly from Japan, the United States, and South Korea.