Bogotá's national role

Bogotá has never managed to dominate the Colombian economy, always fighting for supremacy against powerful regional rivals. The history of industrial development in Colombia reflects this rivalry clearly. At the turn of the century, Medellín was the country's largest manufacturing centre. It still retained that position in 1945, when it had one-third more industrial jobs than Bogotá (table 11.3). It was only when import substitution became national policy in the 1950s that Bogotá managed to overtake its great rival. Thenceforth, the capital's larger market and its privileged access to government and political decision-making began to count in its favour (Gilbert, 1975). By 1958, Bogotá had more manufacturing jobs than Medellín and its dominance continued to increase over the years. Even so, Colombia's industry is still highly regionalized (table 11.3).

In recent years, Colombia's economy has become more centralized. Between 1960 and 1985, Bogotá increased its share of the gross domestic product from 15 to 25 per cent. In 1993, the head offices of 26 major banks were located in Bogotá, compared with only five in other Colombian cities (Revista del Banco de la República, June 1993).

Table 11.4 Bogotá's gross regional product, 1989

Source: DANE, 1992.
a. Does not sum to 100 per cent because imputed bank services and taxes on imports have not been included.

In 1992, it provided work for 34 per cent of the country's manufacturing employees; in 1988, 43 per cent of all students in higher education were studying in Bogotá. In 1993, Bogotá's population at last exceeded the sum of the populations of the next three cities (table 11.1).