Before the Third and Fourth Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, Finance Minister José Antonio Ocampo presented the draft of the General Budget of the Nation (PGN) that will govern for the validity of 2024.
Although this is a first step to determine what the budget for next year will be, it is noteworthy that, despite having a preliminary increase of 7.2%, there are some ‘sacrificed’ sectors whose budget allocation would be considerably reduced.
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Among them is the budget that would be allocated for the Ministry of Sciences, which would be one of the most affected with a reduction of more than 50%
Specifically, the draft (which could change in the coming months) says that the Minciencias would receive 257,202 million pesos. This contrasts with the 516,000 million pesos that the PGN assigned him this year (counting the budget addition).
This situation has generated various criticisms and the coordinators of the different thematic focuses of the International Mission of Wise Men 2019 for Science, Technology and Innovation They have already made their call in a letter addressed to the Petro government.
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The first thing that the coordinators of the Mission of Wise Men stated was that this first proposal reflects the renunciation of the purposes, “repeatedly enunciated during the presidential campaign”, to convert Colombian society into a focus for the generation of knowledge and culture.
“Although we understand that it is a first proposal, barely indicative, we feel that it reflects the low priority that science has in the Government’s plans. The commitment to increase state investment to 1% of GDP (still small compared to other countries) will again be frustratedthey said.
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They also criticized that it is a “fallacy” that the resources assigned by royalties replace the National Budget.
“These resources are uncertain in quantity and duration, and due to legal conditions, they can only be used to finance complementary or remedial programs. They will never support a diverse, complex and sophisticated community like the one the country needs“, they added.
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And they asked President Gustavo Petro reconsider the proposal of the cut to the Minciencias which is consigned in the preliminary draft of PGN 2024, as well as defining “the place that science, technology and innovation occupy among the Government’s priorities“.
“We appreciate your attention and we remain at your disposal to start the conversations that allow the exchange of arguments and justifications for the common agreement on said budget, and other matters of science, technology and innovation.“, they closed.
The signatories of the letter were Moisés Wasserman, Juan-Manuel Anaya, Juan Benavides, Silvia Restrepo, Edgar L. Puentes, Andrés Franco, María del Pilar Noriega, and Clemente Forero.
BRIEFCASE
