economist when José Antonio Ocampo (1952) submitted his resignation in December 2019 to return to the professorship at Columbia University in New York as co-director of the Banco de la República, thinking he would eventually retire from academia. However, this “grand national deal” proposed by the newly elected president Gustavo Petro amid the recovery and adjustment of the economy after the biggest economic crisis due to the pandemic seduced him, and as of September 7, August, under Ernesto Samper (between 1996 and 1997). ) will re-lead the Treasury portfolio, as it did.
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Ocampo will enter the ministry with a tax reform aimed at achieving an ambitious 50 billion pesos. social spending is expected to continue. In an interview with EL TIEMPO, he hinted at how he plans to acquire these resources, who are the top contributors, and what their commitments are, amid a global period of uncertainty due to the phenomenon of inflation. , partly due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and this may slow its growth path.
The truth is that I do everything for the country, it seemed important to me for this transition that we are in, many people asked me to dedicate these years to the return period to Colombia. country of responsibility (laughs).
I really had to request a license to be a minister, and we decide how long that will take.
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I come from another political movement, but I support the national agreement it proposes. This is my most important goal. And yes, I share something with him, in fact, through the election process, I shared the goal of making a decisive contribution to reducing inequalities, poverty and other social problems in Colombia.
His clear message to me is tax reform. We hope to present it in government very soon. even as soon as If it is ready on August 7, we will present it that day.
I believe this is understood, that my appointment has given peace to the markets.
The rise of the dollar is due not just to national factors, but to a complex international environment experienced by all of Latin America and the world. In fact, there were months last year when the dollar was at this level, this is not the first time.
Don’t take this as a sign of lack of control or lack of confidence. Even more so when there has been a decrease in the risk margin of Colombian bonds in recent days.
Yes, but it is complicated because the international financial market is in a period of great turmoil due to the world inflation problem and the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its effects. So there is a lot of uncertainty, and obviously the rise in interest rates in the United States tends to make investing in our countries less attractive. These are international trends, they do not fit Colombian phenomena, but they affect us.
I also shared the view that Colombia should diversify in terms of exports and production and therefore stop being dependent on oil. Now, this is a process that has to be gradual. Clearly, oil remains not only a major item in Colombia’s exports, but also a source of financial resources.
Another element that I share with the next president is the view that the country should contribute decisively to the fight against change. and one of these elements is the transition to environmentally sustainable energies.
No oil until we review existing contracts. What I can say is that in case of oil exploration, we first need to see the status of the contracts that have been signed. There are 180 available, you need to go through them, see what perspectives they have, if you need to explore more. We need to diversify, but we don’t know exactly whether these contracts give us self-sufficiency and export opportunities. It’s important to keep exploring on the gas. However, I’m not on top of this, other members of the joint.
In addition to its importance for the rural world, which is very backward economically and socially in various parts of Colombia, the agricultural sector will need to be decisively promoted. The support will be especially for small agricultural production and remote areas of the country.
Second, Colombia must be reindustrialized. The fact that the manufacturing industry has lost its participation in the economy in the last 30 years does not make sense in terms of international trends. I think industrialization is a very important point and there are many sectors of technology and other services, we need to have an efficient economy and diversify the export basket as in the past. With the oil boom, we lost the export diversification we had before.
(Be sure to read: Propane gas: why the price will rise in Colombia in July.)
No, this is not necessary.
Our first priority is tax reform to get more resources for these social programs. We will clearly take this into account when redesigning the budget and see how it can be increased. The program for seniors can be created independently of the pension reform.
If the state is viewed as an employer of last resort, it is necessary to estimate how much this will cost. I have always supported immediate employment and very active job retraining for workers to find employment. The entire list of social program announcements should be looked at carefully to see what is prioritized given the available resources. They can still be worked on later.
We see this. I personally believe that 75 billion pesos is not a valid figure and we will see how close it can be to 50 billion pesos., but well, it’s a specific issue we’re currently analyzing. There will also be a detailed discussion of the proposals we presented at the Congress.
This is the diagnosis shared by the incoming government and confirmed by the analysis of the OECD and Fedesarrollo, who have studied taxation, among others. In terms of income, the target will be individuals and I don’t even know if Colombia can lower the tax rate on companies now or later.
This is one of the elements. Without reducing the tax benefits, it will be impossible to reduce the tax rate of companies, to adapt. And again, this is not possible unless the taxation of natural persons is increased. In other words, it is a necessity to increase the number of natural persons in order to impose less taxation on companies.
In principle, VAT reform is not a priority for us. Also, as it was definitely announced last year, there is very strong public opposition to this. I don’t know if there will be any element other than secondary, VAT reform is not a priority.
One of the aims of the reform is not to tax the middle class and, of course, the popular sectors any more.
The government will submit a proposal for a wealth tax supported by many organizations. We’re not saying it’s something new that will scare away investment. In fact, if a wealth tax were to be imposed, it would be on individuals, not companies.
This is something we’re discussing.
Yes, in principle there is exemption from both social security contributions and pensions in the Colombian system, which is an atypical regime. Almost everywhere in the world, social security and pension contributions are tax-exempt, but pensions themselves are not. So let’s review this issue. We’ll have to see what regime is below and what level it’s above. All this is analysed.
We are discussing this.
Avoidance and avoidance are very high in Colombia and so we will see how it is strengthened. control systems. This should be one of the top priorities of reform.
will stay, there is no way to change it. It remains to be seen what they are with regard to these taxes and whether they negatively affect popular industries.
Some expenditures need to be rationalized, but in general Government expenditure must increase precisely because all additional social programs spend more and will be realized to the extent that we obtain higher tax revenues.
Reducing poverty and inequality are absolute priorities. We will see which of these programs is important, but support to low-income households and at least some vulnerable households should be part of this program.
We are reviewing.
Full It’s one of the issues that we need to review very early on in government. To propose what changes we will make to the national budget.
This is a big hole the incoming government has taken and we’re seeing how it is closed, obviously, in some cases it may be appropriate to close it with a price hike, but it’s certainly not something that could affect the most vulnerable sectors. We’re looking at how to fix this issue.
He talked about reviewing them, but this is an agreement with the country we signed, it cannot be a unilateral action. In terms of protection, there is much to protect against unfair competition and smuggling.
However, I believe that the most critical issue is export diversification and protection is not very helpful for this. What needs to be done is more active production policies for agriculture, industry and service sectors..
Yes, the economy has recovered very well. It is one of the best recovery cases in the world. In the employment situation, it was lacking for women and youth. In the future, the mix of high inflation and rising interest rates will affect us, which will create lower economic growth in the world and will also affect Colombia in the second half of the year.
Yes, actually, I would think it would be more than 6.1 percent. I believe the government figure of 6.5 percent.
Inflation is a phenomenon that affects all countries, especially the poorest households, as food prices are affected above the average, and it will undoubtedly affect consumption, and the rise in interest rates will also affect the aggregate demand of countries. economy.
No, that was not a good policy and we will remove it. Current law says it can be up to three days, so we can make it zero. It did not benefit poor families. Many VAT-free products are imported and this comes at a cost.
This is how it is.
The strong resurgence of the economy was reflected in higher tax revenues, which supported the deficit, but in any case the reduction needs to continue to comply with fiscal rule and in particular to lower the debt level. continues to be above the target of the 55 percent rule. We will try to comply with the rules.
The problem of inflation is how to modify and regulate non-oil exports to complete fiscal adjustment and reduce the current account deficit.
*Noelia Cigüenza Riano
Economics and Business Editorial
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I am Bret Jackson, a professional journalist and author for Gadget Onus, where I specialize in writing about the gaming industry. With over 6 years of experience in my field, I have built up an extensive portfolio that ranges from reviews to interviews with top figures within the industry. My work has been featured on various news sites, providing readers with insightful analysis regarding the current state of gaming culture.
