Economy of Cali

conomy was focused on industry. A few years before the decade began a major investment of foreign capital led to the establishment of many factories and multinationals; examples are Croydon in 1937, Cementos del Valle in 1939, Carton Colombia in 1941, Goodyear and Colgate-Palmolive in 1941. Later came other multinationals like General CEAT (Centelsa) in 1955, and pharmaceutical laboratories were based in the Cauca Valley between 1940 and 1960, as Tecnoquímicas and Baxter.

The flourishing industrial city attracted waves of immigration in the 1950s and 1960s. In these decades there were important partnerships between the public and private sectors, as productive sector support to programs of business administration at the University of Valle. The growth of the University training professionals and technologists, as well as infrastructure development, was crucial for the further development of industry and trade in the Valle del Cauca. This trend continued in the 1970s and early years of the next decade. Public investment in infrastructure reached significant levels benefiting not only the production sector but also the growing population, this made Cali and Valle del Cauca models further development across the country.

In the 1980s, before the relative laxity of the state, drug trafficking became a common and quick way to accumulate wealth. Proceeds from drugs had a strong influence on the economy of the city. Money of dubious origin soon infected many institutions and public and private companies. Money laundering generated an economic boom which declined sharply in the mid-1990s when the central government declared war on drugs.

The recession economy of the late twentieth century began to take shape. In addition to the war on drugs, were added the atomization of city resources, the