Regions will put 15% of the resources of the Development Plan

On Tuesday the National Planning Department (DNP) delivered the bases of the National Development Plan of the government of Gustavo Petro. The document, made up of 235 pages, defines the lines of work in which this administration hopes to channel public investments for a value of $1,048.2 trillion to 2026.

(Government presented the bases of the National Development Plan 2022-2026).

The government roadmap, for which the final bill will be filed on February 7, 2023, revolves around five transformational axes, which according to the director of the DNP, Jorge Iván González, were identified as the priorities of the citizenship from the ‘Binding regional dialogues’ that the entity has been advancing since September.

These transforming axes are: Territorial planning around water and environmental justice; Human security and social justice; Human right to food; Internationalization, productive transformation for life and climate action; and Regional convergence.

The document presented a section that includes the Multiannual Investment Plan 2023-2026, which defines the uses and sources for the resources with which the Government hopes to materialize its four-year goals.

“The first effort that we made and that is presented at the end of the Plan is to organize the resources that we have planned. We organized those $1,000 trillion that would be available for investment around the strategies of the Plan, that had never been presented like this, it was normally presented by sectors. What we are doing is a first effort to integrate the sectors in strategic axes”clarified to this medium González.

(Did there change? The milestones that Petro attributes to his first 100 days).

Despite this, the director of the DNP acknowledged that since the country’s budget structure is sectoral, “At the time of disaggregation, resources must finally be assigned to ministries and entities, but they will be linked to strategic programs.”

The public spending contemplated for the Development Plan is equivalent to 18% of GDP for the next four years, something that, according to the Government, “It is consistent with the investment rate of the economy that is to be achieved in the year 2026.”

According to the document, the main source of public financing will be the General Budget of the Nation, which has a participation of 49.3% within the projections of the Plan. This would be equivalent to $516.9 billion, with resources coming both from the investment component of the budget and from transfers from the different portfolios.

The General Participation System (SGP) would contribute $259.6 billion (24.8%). These resources constitute government transfers to territorial entities to cover expenses associated with education, health, drinking water and basic sanitation, among other purposes.

By concept of own resources of the territorial entities the Plan projects $150.6 trillion, while for the industrial and commercial companies of the State it would have $65.1 trillion. From the General Royalty System, $46.5 billion would be available for carrying out projects with a regional impact. The international cooperation resources would complement by contributing $9.3 billion.

In addition, the bases of the Development Plan contemplate that the total private investment during 2023-2026 is $949.7 billion (at 2022 silver) and it is expected that part of these resources will promote compliance with social achievements together with the national government. .

(Economic challenges faced by the Government in its first 100 days).

Regarding the uses of the resources, these would be distributed by the five transformational axes that the bases of the Development Plan propose.

For the transformation of regional convergence that according to the government “is the process of reducing social and economic gaps between households and regions in the country” $459.0 billion, 44% of the resources, will be allocated.

The axis of human security and social justice would be the second with the most resources, with $329.1 billion (31%), followed by the transformation of territorial planning around water and environmental justice ($106.0 billion), internationalization, productive transformation for Life and Climate Action ($70.9 billion) and Human Right to Food ($26.6 billion).

In addition, cross-cutting actions are estimated to have resources of $56.6 billion.

The Plan also establishes the 2022-2026 macroeconomic strategy.

The document says that “It is essential that the State intervene more and do so efficiently,” that discretion in the management of income and expenses is essential. It is also said that “monetary policy must favor the financing needs inherent to the transformation of the energy matrix”, and that the decisions of the monetary authority “have to be coordinated with production and employment policies.

LAURA LUCIA BECERRA ELEJALDE