UPDATE 1-Colombia industrial output falls 9.43 pct in March

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BOGOTA, May 16 (Reuters) - Colombia's industrial production dropped 9.43 percent in March compared with the same month a year earlier, but rose 1.35 percent in the first quarter versus the same period a year ago, the government said on Friday.

Colombia's economy has grown recently at its quickest pace in three decades -- more than 7.5 percent in 2007 -- as the country benefits from more security and growing foreign investment under President Alvaro Uribe. (Reporting by Bogota newsroom; Editing by Leslie Adler, Toni Reinhold)