After several weeks of meetings with the different portfolios and sectors, the Ministry of The Treasury finally presented the addition to the General Budget of the Nation (PGN) of 2023, for a total of $25.4 billion. In these $23.2 trillion of additional expenses are contemplated from the tax reform approved last year, with close to $20 billion, and also greater capital resources.
(See: Maduro proposes to Petro to create an economic zone between Colombia and Venezuela).
However, the head of the portfolio, José Antonio Ocampo, confirmed that Added to this is $2.2 trillion from own resources and special establishments.
“We are basically talking about the SENA and the Icbf, with which, strictly speaking in terms of spending, the spending that is being proposed is $25.4 trillion”, indicated Ocampo.
In addition, $1.5 trillion was added to the debt service, which, according to the minister, responds to the increase in its cost due to the exchange rate.
(See: Foreign investment in January is the highest in eight months).
“We will firmly respect the fiscal rule. This has meant that we have to rationalize various requests from the government team,” the minister clarified.
(Also read: Budget addition: the dilemma between spending and lowering the deficit).
However, it is important to clarify that this amount is not directly injected into the total budget for the current term, for which $405.6 billion was approved last year.
As explained by the ministry, in accounting terms, a budget modification was made, which made it possible to cross some accounts with Ecopetrol’s profits.
In this way, appropriations for $18.4 billion that were assigned to the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (Fepc) will be reduced, while the net addition for the PGN of 2023 was constituted in $8.6 trillion. Thus, the General Budget of 2023 would reach $414.2 billion.
(See: For these reasons, Colombia had a GDP of 7.5% during 2022).
According to Ocampo, 89.2% of the addition of expenses to the national government will be used to advance the transformations of the National Development Plan, while the remaining 10.8% will be used to cover legal obligations.
LAURA LUCIA BECERRA ELEJALDE
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