The Autonomous Committee of Fiscal Rule announced this Wednesday – August 21 – the name of the person who will replace Andrés Velasco as its new technical director, after he made the leap to private funds to take over the presidency of Asofondos.
According to a statement issued by this organization, the expert members of the Committee appointed Juan Sebastián Betancur Mora as Director and Technical Secretary of the Autonomous Committee of the Fiscal Rule, positions that he will assume starting this week, with a view to maintaining his usual monitoring and observations on macroeconomic and fiscal matters.
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The CARF highlighted that Betancur is an economist, Master in Economics from the University of the Andes and Master in Public Administration and Economic Policy Management from the University of Columbia and has served as General Director of Macroeconomic Policy and Deputy Director of Fiscal Policy in the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (MHCP) and economist at the Poverty and Sustainable Development Division of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
He has also been an economic analyst at Corficolombiana and an economic analyst at the Macroeconomic and Sectoral Analysis Department of Fedesarrollo. He has also been a professor at the Universidad de los Andes and the Universidad del Rosario. Betancur was previously the Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Juan Sebastián Betancur, Technical Director of Carf.
Courtesy – API
“The members of the Committee and its Technical Directorate welcome Dr. Betancur who will begin his appointment as Director in the coming weeks,” Carf highlighted in the statement.
What is Carf?
The Autonomous Committee of the Fiscal Rule (Carf) is a technical and independent body attached to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia. It was created by Law 2155 of 2021, also known as the Social Investment Law, which modified Law 1473 of 2011 and its main function is to monitor the fiscal rule, with the aim of guaranteeing the sustainability of the country’s public finances.
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ANDThe CARF is made up of five members who are experts in public financeswho are selected by the Minister of Finance. These experts must have a recognized prestige in their field and cannot be public servants. In addition, the committee includes two presidents of the economic commissions of Congress, who participate under an alternating system. The members have an institutional term of four years, extendable once.
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Among its main functions, CARF issues technical opinions on the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, the Government’s macroeconomic projections and long-term fiscal sustainability. In addition, it conducts consistency analyses between the goals of the fiscal rule and the country’s main fiscal policy instruments. These functions are essential to ensure that fiscal decisions are sustainable and aligned with the government’s economic objectives.
This body is also responsible for issuing opinions on the activation of the escape clause, a mechanism that allows the government to temporarily relax the fiscal rule in exceptional situations. The committee’s pronouncements are public and have a significant impact on the formulation of fiscal policies. This transparency seeks to ensure that fiscal decisions are closely monitored and confidence in the management of public finances is maintained.
