With an eye on meeting the deadline established by law for the approval of the amount of the General Budget of the Nation before September 15 and with the warning that this document can no longer be returned for correction, Congress and the National Government have been working uninterruptedly since last week, to adjust and review the accounts of this project, the voting on which will begin next week.
So far, the conversations between the speakers and coordinators of the initiative and the representatives of the Casa de Nariño, headed by the Ministry of Finance, have been cordial, but have moved between requests for confidence on the one hand and for facts that provide certainty on the other; since there are several points that generate doubts in the Legislature, mainly in relation to the expected income.
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The potential for DIAN to collect taxes, contributions from profits, increased spending, as well as debt management and budget allocations to entities such as Prosperidad Social, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, are some of the topics that have been discussed so far in the talks, which are expected to continue over the coming days.
They ask for certainties
In order to learn the details of these meetings and the status of the dialogues to define what will finally be voted on next week, Portafolio spoke with Wilmer Castellanos, representative of Alianza Verde and one of the coordinators speakers of the Budget project, who indicated that everything is progressing well at the moment.
Wilmer Castellanos, representative to the House for the Green Alliance party.
Courtesy
“What we are doing is listening to each of the ministries and entities attached to the Government to review the budget allocation of each of these ministries and entities, but also the execution of the year 2024 in order to evaluate which entities have a better management in their execution,” he explained.
According to Castellanos, the idea of this is to know which sectors are They deserve to have a larger budget allocation and to determine which entities are not doing so well in the matter, “to obviously also take into account in the debate and discussion the reduction obviously to the budget due to inability to execute.”
On behalf of the Petro government, the negotiating team for the General Budget of the Nation is made up of the director of National Planning, Alexander López, and the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonilla, who have coordinated the presentations in which the cash, income and expenditure statements of the State are being shown.
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Concern about the Dian
Throughout the meetings, according to what representative Wilmer Castellanos told Portafoliothe Government was asked to detail the sources of financing that will support the proposed budget of $523 billion for 2025, regarding which there is a point of alert due to the collection capacity that is being projected for the National Tax and Customs Directorate, since under current conditions it is seen as unlikely that they can be met.
“This is the point they called the Dian’s greater efficiency, with which they expect to collect more, which even exceeds what is stipulated in the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework projected for the year 2025, which was $289.9 billion and which now stands at $304.5 billion. There is a difference of $14.6 billion that must be better supported,” he added.
General Budget of the Nation.
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For the coordinator who presented the budget project, it is necessary to take into account warnings such as those of the CARF, which questions this collection capacity, arguing that a large number of personnel is needed to achieve it and that although the same tax authority says that it will hire more than 4,000 new officials, There is still no concrete process. Added to this is the lack of technological equipment.
The decline in Ecopetrol’s profits and uncertainty about future dividends from this and other state entities are raising concerns in Congress. Lawmakers are demanding greater clarity on the financing law and strategies to ensure a stable revenue stream. Without solid financial planning, they fear that the 2025 Budget will face execution and sustainability risks.
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Confidence and certainty
Although the Ministry of Finance and the DNP have reiterated during the meetings that the vote of confidence of Congress is necessary, Representative Castellanos was emphatic that the response of the Legislature has been that It all depends on the certainties provided regarding the collection strategy and the solidity of the income.
In this regard, he added that there is uncertainty about the impact of the upcoming Financing Law on different sectors of the economy, despite the fact that he said they were assured that VAT and the four per thousand tax will not be touched. He also made it clear that the full details of this law have not yet been made public, which is causing concern in the economic commissions about its viability and effect on projected revenue.
Plenary session in the House of Representatives
THE TIME
“We have asked the minister (Ricardo Bonilla) to inform us of the financing law before approving the amount, because obviously based on that dissemination we will make decisions taking into account which sectors will obviously be affected by the implementation of this new law,” he said.
Wilmer Castellanos concluded by saying that the joint economic commissions, along with coordinators and speakers, are meeting almost daily, reviewing allocations sector by sector and that the goal is to carry out an exhaustive analysis before the final vote on the budget amount.
Formal debates on the budget are expected to begin the week of September 11, following the release of the financing bill by the Ministry of Finance. During those crucial days, lawmakers will seek to reconcile revenue projections with the country’s spending needs, in order to pass a budget that is both ambitious and financially sustainable.
