The Directorate of Public Credit of the Ministry of Finance delivered the figures for the gross debt of the central National Government at the end of November, whichreached the figure of $852.7 trillion, which is equivalent to 62.6% of GDPa new maximum in nominal terms.
(Read: Cereals and other products that have been most imported into the country).
According to the figures of the entity, the internal debt of the Nation amounts to $497 billion, whiche represents 36.6% of GDP projected for 2022, while the external debt stands at $355.09 trillion, which represents 26.1% of the national GDP.
Expressed in dollars, the total gross debt of the Nation closed in November at US$177,306 million, of which US$103,474 million are internal debt and US$73,832 million external debt.
Andrés Langebaek, director of economic research at Grupo Bolívar-Davivienda, assures that the key message that these figures show is that the debt is calculated as a proportion of GDP, but nominal GDP, which he explains, is growing a lot.
“Although the national economy is growing in real terms around 8%, inflation is growing 12.5%, and nominal GDP is growing more than 20%. That means that even if debt remained at 62% as a proportion of GDP, it would be growing by gigantic proportions as well. ”, explained the expert in this regard.
(See: Ultra-processed foods increase the risk of cognitive decline).
By debt denomination, 59.2% is in local currency, and the vast majority (41%) is in Colombian pesos, which is equivalent to $342.5 billionwhile in real value units (UVR) the debt amounts to $155.15 trillion, 18.2% of the total gross debt.
Of The remaining 40.8% of the commitments acquired in foreign currencyUS$66,051 million are in dollars, while the equivalent in euros is US$6,299 million.
Langebaek acknowledges that the government is going to make a fiscal adjustment next year, reducing the deficit to 7.2%, but the question, he points out, is whether that adjustment will be enough.
“The trends are not good, and that’s really why we lost investment grade, because what was anticipated was that the debt dynamics were going to be perverse”, he indicated.
(Also: According to analysts, GDP would improve in 2022, but worsen in 2023).
BRIEFCASE
