What Petro said about the lack of agreement regarding the amount of the 2025 Budget

President Gustavo Petro spoke out after the economic commissions of Congress failed to reach an agreement on the amount of the General Budget of the Nation (PGN) for 2025. With the project in limbo, the Government assures that the PGN for next year will be issued by decree.

(Read more: Government lost the pulse in Congress and the 2025 Budget was left in limbo)

According to the president through his X account, the National Budget would be decreed with the figure with which the initiative was filed before the Legislature, that is, $523 billionof which $12 billion would come through the tax reform that the Executive has been promoting. “The budget that the government initially presented to Congress is decreed”he stressed.

The statements of the head of State are presented alongside those of the president of the Senate, Efraín Cepeda, who pointed out that the resources contemplated in the also known as Financing Law They cannot be included if the PGN is established by decree.

“The rules are clear and what is financed must be included, not what does not have a source of funds, read the 12 billion pesos of the financing law, which cannot be included in a decree”he stressed.

It should be noted that, according to experts, the legislature still has until October 20 to agree on the PGN for next year.

(Read more: 2025 Budget: Government says the amount would be issued by decree and would be $523 billion)

(See: Is the lack of budgetary autonomy of electoral authorities a risk?)

At risk of default?

In addition to the budget, President Petro referred to the impacts that the lack of quorum has had in the sessions of the Interparliamentary Commission on Public Credit, especially in relation to external debt payments.

“I think that what is more serious than the failure of the Senate’s economic commissions to approve the budget is the failure of the interparliamentary commission on public credit to approve payments on the country’s external debt through the tactic of non-attendance.”he stressed.

According to the president, this situation generates concern, not only because could lead the country to default (not meeting the payment of their financial obligations), but because it implies an increase in the cost of the debt.

“This leads to an artificial default, to an increase in the cost of the debt and to an unquantifiable fiscal loss”Petro said.

(Read more: National Budget: Congress denounces ‘not very soft’ blow to the 2026 elections)

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