The Plenary sessions in the Senate and the House of Representatives approved during the final debate on Wednesday evening Budget 2024 for $502.6 billion, after two debates that started in the morning.
In the House of Representatives, which passed after the Senate, the vote was 105 to 21. The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 59 in favor.
Also read: Senate plenary approves 2024 budget for $502.6 billion
In this regard, the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonillaexplained that the configuration of the public revenue project came after more than 110 hours of meetings with his technical team and discussions with speakers, coordinators and the various committees and benches.
“He General budget of 2024 supports an orderly interaction between the fair energy transition and productive transformation, within the limits allowed by compliance with the fiscal rule,” the official said.
For his part, the senator Miguel Uribeof the Democratic Center, He had presented an alternative presentation in which he proposed “$295 billion in operating costs and $95 in capital expenditures, which would be the highest items. What we are proposing is a budget adjustment to save the country.”
The speaker’s representative, Olga Lucía Velásquez, from the Green Allianceassured that the general budget complies with the budget rule with an inflexibility of 83.1%: “This is to comply with the National Development Plan, so we must implement this transformation for the country.”
In turn, speaker Eliécer Salazar, from La U, highlighted the figures for the agricultural sector: “It goes from $5.4 billion to $9.2 billion. This increase is a boon for the agricultural sector and for our farmers.”
However, from the Caribbean Caucus, Representative Armando Zabaraín of the Conservative Party expressed concern that the budget does not contemplate permanent dredging of the port of Barranquilla, “which is ultimately not the port of Barranquilla, but the port of the entire country.” Colombia.”
Also the representative Andrés Forero, from the Democratic Center, announced that he will not guide this budget because “unfortunately they define the healthcare system: the Minister of Health himself acknowledges that there is an $850 billion gap.”
And Representative Jennifer Pedraza of the Dignidad party criticized their “ignorance of science and technology”: the government promised to increase the budget in this sector and did not do so. “We need high-level research, Colombia’s development depends on it.”
You may be interested in: The 2024 budget includes resources for the RAP Caribe
From the first to the second debate there was a series of additions in specific sectors: Ministry of Equality ($800 billion), Ministry of Defense ($748.5 billion), Police ($304.5 billion), the ANT ($200 billion) and public universities ($136,686). ).millions).
While the cuts were recorded in the Ministry of Finance ($1.6 billion), Labor ($1.06 billion), Education ($137,419 million), Housing ($17,200 million) and the ADR ($160,737 million).
Thus, the operation was reduced to $308.2 billion; Debt remained at $94.5 billion and investments rose to $99.8 billion.
And the portfolios with the largest resources were Education ($70.4 billion), Healthcare ($61.5 billion), Defense and Police ($56 billion), Treasury ($47.5 billion), and Labor ($44.3 billion).
Of the new articles, what stands out is the article that allows Findeter to grant direct credits, with or without a compensated rate, to electric energy distribution and marketing companies that have applied the energy rate option.
Source: El Heraldo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
