BOGOTA, Sept 11 (Askume) – Colombia’s Senate economic committee rejected the government’s proposed 2025 budget on Wednesday, arguing the Andean country would be unable to raise the proposed amount due to lower-than-expected tax revenues.
In late July, Colombia’s Finance Ministry submitted a 523 trillion pesos ($122 billion) budget proposal to Congress for next year.
On Tuesday, the Treasury Department presented a new fiscal reform proposal to lawmakers to raise an additional 12 trillion pesos ($2.8 billion), which the government said it would use to fund the budget despite the rejection.
But a majority of lawmakers on the Senate and House economic committees who jointly reviewed the bill on Wednesday said the government’s efforts to raise more money, including plans to address tax evasion and avoidance, were unrealistic.
“We cannot approve proposals that would result in the cancellation of funding because of the irresponsibility of President (Gustavo) Petro,” said Senator Carlos Abraham Jiménez of the right-wing Radical Change party.
Petro said Tuesday that if Congress refuses, he would impose a budget by decree.
“The country needs seriousness, legitimacy and some source of value to approve a budget like the one proposed today, and if that doesn’t exist, we must reject it,” said conservative Senate President Efrain Cepeda, adding that the measure was “the minimum requirement of Congress.”
The Senate Economics Committee voted 12–1 to kill the budget measure, eliminating the need for a House committee vote.
In June last year, the Treasury was forced to curtail spending by about $4.6 billion due to a sharp drop in tax revenue, resulting in the 2024 fiscal deficit target being raised to 5.6% from the previous 5.3%.
The independent commission that monitors compliance with the country’s so-called fiscal rules – designed to prevent a collapse in public finances – said in July that compliance must be ensured in 2024 and 2025 because of potential risks to tax collection.
(1 USD = 4,285.61 Colombian Pesos)
