After the budget post that was known this week, by the Ministry of Finance, the Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad, dispatched against the congressmen who sank the Financing Law and rejected the fiscal rule, proposed by the government of President Gustavo Petro.
The head of the environmental portfolio said, through an X video: “It is really incredible – and in my concept, a great impudence – to see how congressmen of the economic commissions come to claim the government for postponing investments in infrastructure works as important to the country as the Bogotá Metro and others. And I say that it is an impudence because since last year the National Government warned of the difficult fiscal income situation that was crossed due to several circumstances”
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Muhamad said that, among other factors is the deficit, the short -term debt with the International Monetary Fund that must be paid between 2024 and 2025which are about 5,000 million dollars, in addition to the tax that was going to be charged to the oil companies (With the elimination of royalty deduction as an income tax) and that it was estimated to raise 6 billion pesos, but that the Constitutional Court was lying.
An impudence that today congressmen who sank Financing Law and rejected green fiscal rule complain about lack of resources. They decided to throw the key and now demand that the door open alone. This government prioritizes social investment for the most vulnerable and must postpone … pic.twitter.com/md731k7c2b
– Susana Muhamad (@susanamuhamad) January 29, 2025
“These same congressmen who had the keys to work with the government to close the gap and approve this financing law, on the contrary, decided to sink it as an opinion coup against the Petro government. They applauded, hugged, cried with the emotion for sunk this law. And today they complain that there are not enough income“The minister continued.
“The Government has made a political decision to priority to social spending to the poorest and postpone investment in large infrastructure works where you can legally”He said.
And it is that the postponement of the expenditure was $ 12 billion in the General Budget of the Nation (PGN) for this 2025. In this way, the ministries that will suffer a greater impact will be: Hacienda, with $ 3.6 billion pesos; Work, with $ 2.8 billion; and the National Infrastructure Agency, with $ 1.2 billion.
Likewise, the resources for the Ministry of Defense that will not be held this year are 785,169 million pesos; Miniguality and Equity (669,053 million pesos) and the National Electoral Council (600,000 million pesos).
As for the other ministries, the postponement was: Ministry of Interior (324,067 million pesos), housing (313,137 million pesos); National Roads Institute, Invías, (232.2 billion pesos), National Institute of Health (211,881 million pesos); thus also the Congress of the Republic (167,411 million pesos).
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Besides, 770,000 million pesos were postponed for the construction of the first line of the Bogotá Metro, What has caused great discomfort in the district, since Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán insists that this should not happen, since the agreements come from past administrations, both the presidency and in the mayor’s office.
Valentina Delgadillo Abello
Portfolio journalist
