During his visit to New York, where he met with several international economic authorities, the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonilla, referred to one of the credits that Colombia has at this moment, which in his opinion is generating high pressure on the State’s treasury and in which it is close to honoring all of the payments that the National Government committed to at the time.
This is a loan for more than US$5 billion that was acquired to address the social crisis generated by the COVID pandemic in 2020 and that will not be refinanced, despite the fact that it was indicated on several occasions that it was necessary to alleviate somewhat the high fiscal burden that the country has due to its high debt levels.
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“We are paying for that process, we have paid three of eight installments, we have dutifully fulfilled the commitment, and we will continue to do so. That does not mean that we will not enter into a space of seeking other types of fresh resources where the International Monetary Fund be a support to find a reduction in interest rates,” said Bonilla González.
According to the Minister of Finance, the meeting also discussed ways to manage public debt, with a view to gaining space for investment, which is one of the areas that currently plagues the national economic dynamics and on which the National Government has been working for months.
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“There was talk about how we found, with the support of the International Monetary Fund, “Fresh resources to make adjustments to the payment of the entire debt process that Colombia has with different national and international organizations with lower interest rates. It is a process that we need to alleviate the burden that we have today that limits our investment space,” said the official.
Energy matrix
Another of the areas addressed, and which for the Ministry of Finance is perhaps the most important, had to do with the country’s commitment to joining the vanguard in the fight against climate change. There, according to this official, the IMF was urged to promote an agenda that includes all of Latin America and the Caribbean.
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“How do we move forward in the process of having the International Monetary Fund issue special drawing rights and, in support of the United Nations, commit those resources to developing a climate agenda in Colombia and Latin America that is not at the cost of Latin America, but rather a process international to effectively help decarbonize the economy,” he explained.
Bonilla stressed that Colombia has the capacity to increase solar energy capacity by six gigabytes over the next three years and that decisions such as adjusting diesel prices not only aim to close the gap with international prices, but also to ensure that there is another type of mobility throughout the national territory.
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He also said that one of the main objectives is to strengthen the trains and revive railways nationwide. This is a complement to the service currently provided by the trucking sector; at the same time, work is being done to improve the energy supply, which in addition to solar, also aims at sources such as hydrogen.
It should be noted that the issue of consumer fuels in Colombia remains a challenge in fiscal matters, since the FEPC deficit for this year is equivalent to what we must pay to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2025. According to the minister, the figure would be around USD $3 billion.
In this regard, the Minister stressed that another discussion is coming for Colombia in which it will be necessary to determine if there is mining space to develop “and we have to know how to produce renewable energy.” For this reason, he called to promote the search for minerals that contribute to Colombia’s energy transition.
