As ordered by national legislation, the Ministry of Finance published this Tuesday – December 31 – the liquidation decree for the General Budget of the Nation for 2025, in which the errors of last year were again repeated, since investment expenses for various sectors were not discriminated against.
In this document, which complements the first Budget decree that was issued two weeks ago after Congress’s rejection of the project presented by the Government, the income accounts for $511 billion and expenses for $523 billion remain, waiting for a new cut decree to be issued next year.
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This maintains uncertainty about whether or not the PGN 2025 complies with the principle of sustainability, given that for the first time in history people want to spend more than they have and now the Constitutional Court will have to decide whether that can be done or not. no or if, on the contrary, the document issued is unconstitutional, since it goes against the Organic Statute of the Budget.
However, for experts in budget issues such as Professor Henry Amorocho, from the Universidad del Rosario, we must keep in mind that this year there will be a large amount of unexecuted resources, which would serve as a cushion to cover the fiscal gap in the 2025 Budget. although he noted that it is necessary to wait until the year ends and the current validity period is defined.
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“That is a determination that leaves it at $511 billion in availabilities, but not in appropriations and I imagine that they will want to cover it later with an additional budget. However, what is run is the risk of the study in the Constitutional Court,” he explained.
The troubles are repeated
When making a first review of the official decree issued by the Ministry of FinancePortafolio was able to verify that the same errors that had the Budget in check in 2024 are repeated, since global items were once again left in several sectors, leaving investment money for infrastructure and education projects in the air.
For example, in the case of the National Infrastructure Agency, $7.2 billion was allocated for investment, of which $6.4 billion is for the primary road network, $3,278 million for air transportation, $6,568 million for rail transportation, $3,143 million for maritime transport and $711,897 million for river transport.
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That said, the document does not specify how the $6.4 billion will be distributed to serve the primary road network specifically by projects and works, as established by the planning principle that governs these accounts. Last year, in the errors of 2024, important works such as the Bogotá metro were left out or several fourth generation roads, putting future validity at risk.
In the case of the National Road Institute, the investment amounts amount to $2.2 billion, which will mostly go to the attention of the primary road network, with $1.6 billion that were not discriminated in the document, so they could be assigned in the regions under the authority of the National Government.
Diego Guevara, new Minister of Finance
Private file
The same happens with education, a sector to which $5.7 billion will be allocated. to invest, of which $4.6 billion they say goes to the “quality and promotion of higher education”, while $35,515 million were allocated to “strengthening and supporting the institutional management of the education sector”; without specifying which projects or works the resources will specifically go to.
When contrasting this regulation for 2025 with its similar ones from previous years, it can be seen that there is no specific disaggregation of the public higher education centers that will receive these money from the State, but rather that all the resources were left in a common pool, which analysts warn that could be distributed at the discretion of the Government.
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Just to give an example, when reviewing the liquidation decrees of 2020, 2021 and 2022; Concepts such as “Contributions for the Financing of the National Pedagogical University” or “Contributions for the Financing of the Universidad del Cauca-Nacional” are appreciated; for those who used to specify items between $2,500 and $3,700 million; which were guaranteed by law.
Decree of errors
With these issues again on the table, the Ministry of Finance is once again exposed to having to issue a decree of errors to disaggregate the global items, as required by law, or otherwise it would be a new front for which the Court Constitutional Court could declare this document unconstitutional.
Ministry of Finance and Public Credit
Private file
Faced with the money that is needed in the Budget, The National Planning Department recently said that they will resort to a tax reform, which will be presented next year to Congress, to seek the $12 billion they need. However, they did not explain how they will ensure that these tax changes take effect next year, if their fiscal effects would only be perceived until 2023.
In 2024, the budget messes left more than $13 billion pesos in the air that were not correctly discriminated. For the term that is about to begin, the review carried out by Portafolio accounts for nearly $15 billion that would be compromised in the same way and that require an urgent review by the Government.
This medium consulted the Minister of Finance, Diego Guevara, and the communications team of this portfolio, from where it was said that for now there will be no statement and that they will be at waiting for the decree to postpone spending that will be issued as soon as 2025 begins.
