They seek in this way to overcome the deficit that exists.
The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced that there will be an increase in the cost of gasoline, given the deficit of the Price Stabilization Fund, which, according to the president, is almost 40 billion a year.
According to Petro, this deficit, that is, the gap left by the Government of Iván Duque Márquez on behalf of the Fund, is 10 billion pesos per quarter, for a total of 40 billion pesos. Which would be, according to the president, almost half of the annual budget.
Given this, Petro stated that this situation was recorded by not raising the value of gasoline, and maintain the subsidy to fuel consumers. For this reason, the head of state made several announcements in this regard.
The first, and the most important, is that there are going to be increases in fuel prices. The president tells consumers that the path of growth will be resumed, and that the objective will be nothing more than to reduce the “irresponsibly accumulated” deficit.
However, he mentions that the Acpm derivatives will not be touched.
“Is it worth subsidizing gasoline for 40 billion when the infant mortality rate due to malnutrition doubles?” Petro asked. From his point of view, the other side of not raising gasoline prices and increasing the fund’s deficit is allowing hunger and poverty to increase in Colombia.
That is why he proposed to Congress to separate the collection of taxes on gasoline from the indexation of its price, to mitigate the impact on the consumer. That is, so that Colombians are not so aggressively affected.
The president also spoke of a debate in the legislature on the structure of fuel prices, and their indexation with international oil prices; which includes the purchase that Ecopetrol makes within the country at an international price.
In his speech, Petro indicated that the Ministry of Mines and the Dian must establish effective controls so that the taxation and payment of royalties made by fossil fuel extraction companies is made on the actual amounts of extraction and export to the countries. international prices.
reactions
The first to react to Petro’s announcement was the president of Fendipetróleo, Juan Carlos Vélez. The manager indicated that the union of service stations in the country will accompany this process of rising gasoline prices.
According to the representative and president of the third commission of the House of Representatives, Katherine Miranda, Colombia cannot continue subsidizing gasoline, for which she launched a proposal: Focus subsidies through SOAT on motorcycles, freight transport and transportation. public, in order not to affect Colombians with lower incomes.
For his part, for the representative of the Andrés Forero Democratic Center, increasing the value of fuel would immediately impact food prices, the family basket and many other services in the country.
In his turn, the former Minister of Finance, José Manuel Restrepo, contradicted Petro. He did the accounts of what they gave him at the junction, including the payment of 14.2 billion of the deficit, and he took it to his face that, if he had not subsidized gasoline, the cost of living in Colombia would have increased by at least 5 percentage points.
Another former minister of said portfolio, this time Juan Camilo Restrepo, supported the president and said that the fund is unsustainable. And that devours practically everything that is expected to be collected with the tax reform.
The fuel price stabilization deficit due to non-payment by the previous government is 10 billion per quarter. That is almost 40 billion annually. Almost half of the national budget deficit.
It occurs when the price of gasoline does not rise. https://t.co/bN4NTznFIy
– Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) September 11, 2022
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