Private internal debt in Colombia, 1970-1985

In the first half of the 1980s one of the clearest developments in Colombia’s financial sector as in that of several other Latin American economies, was the increasing indebtedness of private and public enterprises. A large part of the increased lending was of domestic origin and this led to an unprecedented growth in the financial assets held by the public and the interm ediation systems. At the same time the form erly buoyant stock market went in to its death throes; the great majority of shares came into the hands of a few large investors, for the small investor put his savings into the financial instruments issued by the intermediaries who were lending to business.