$22 trillion at stake: Government will decide what to use additional money for

This weekend a council of ministers will be held to define the long-term goals regarding public spending in the country. That includes a very important decision: the destination of the additional resources that the Government has for this 2023.

(Read: ‘Regulatory bodies must be independent’: Creg responds to Petro).

It should be remembered that the Petro Government received a budget addition as a result of the tax reform and the profits of the Banco de la República. Accordingly, there are additional resources between 20 and 22 billion pesos by 2023.

“What happens is that the tax reform was the way to make the fiscal adjustment compatible with public spending, then, in the goal that we announced for the total deficit, which is 3.8% deficit and 0.6% primary surplus, the budget addition is included”said José Antonio Ocampo, Minister of Finance.

Likewise, the senior official clarified that primary spending continues to be consistent with the objectives of the tax reform and has a positive margin. PFor its part, the Banco de la República announced profits of 2 trillion during 2022.

However, the utility of Central Bank could be lower for this 2023 due to accounting changes. The Government, for its part, continues to have a positive balance in this regard.

(Also: The position of the Ministry of Finance on the new president of Ecopetrol).

“The combination of the balance of payments and the fiscal adjustment are very important for the international scenario and when the risk rating agencies ratified Colombia’s stable outlook, they also said that the possibility of improving the rating depends on these two deficits.Ocampo said.

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