00:00Congress approved the 2027 National General Budget after a long day.
00:05The Senate approval process ended around 11 p.m. on Monday. Then, at
00:10At 4 a.m. this Tuesday, the House of Representatives gave it the green light.
00:14Congress approved a budget of 634.9 trillion pesos.
00:19About 62% of the total is operating costs, which is what it costs to keep the State running.
00:25Another 24% corresponds to debt service.
00:28In the second debate presentation, this item decreased by 8.36 trillion pesos compared to what
00:34Approved by the economic committees. Investment is the smallest item, at 14% of the total.
00:40What changed in the 2027 National General Budget?
00:44In the second debate, an additional 3 trillion was incorporated to address the needs of
00:49health sector. An additional 6.5 trillion was included in the labor sector to meet the
00:55pension payments. An additional 700 billion was also secured for the operation of the
01:01Public universities. In addition, 3 trillion was allocated to finance energy subsidies.
01:06and gas. The largest cut was in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. There was a reduction of 11,400
01:13millions, which were added to the 170 billion that had already been adjusted compared to the first version
01:19of the budget. In total, the cut for the JEP was 181.4 billion.
01:25Criticism of the budget. Initially, the government of Abelardo de la Espriella promised
01:30to present a more austere budget than the one submitted by Gustavo Petro's administration.
01:35However, the amount increased by 59.2 trillion compared to Petro's. According to Miguel Gómez, Minister of Finance,
01:42The change was due to a revision of the accounts, as the first version was missing some details.
01:46Resources for essential expenses. In the second debate, the main demands of the congressmen
01:52They revolved around the reduction in resources for the regions. For example, Antioquia was
01:57They subtracted about 600 billion, and 200 billion from Valle del Cauca. Some legislators
02:02They also expressed doubts about articles that allow the government to redirect the budget towards
02:08The so-called Miracle Fund, to address reconstruction after the earthquake without going through Congress.
02:13Next year's accounts show the difficult fiscal situation the country is going through.
02:18The government promised to introduce an economic rescue bill in the coming weeks to
02:23cut spending.
