President Gustavo Petro denied Jaime Dussán, president of Colpensiones, about the fate of Colombian pension savings. “It is not true”

In the midst of the controversy generated by the president of Colpensiones, Jaime Dussán, for the possible future of Colombian pension savings, President Gustavo Petro had to intervene in the discussion and clarify what the national government is thinking on the subject.

This weekend, Dussán surprised the country by stating that with the money from pension savings, social and infrastructure works might be thought of that respond to the announcements that the government of President Petro has been making.

“For example, we might think that infrastructure works announced by the president, such as the train that we are going to take from Buenaventura to Barranquilla, to Soledad, we can do it,” said Dussán, who explained that “We might invest these resources so that we do not have to ask the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, international organizations, or usurious banks to lend us the resources when we can have them.”

How many nonsense they say without technical support. The Colombian pension is not a gift from the State, it is a right that Petro and his people will not have to calm his delusions. pic.twitter.com/6Fixhr4iHV

– Maria Fernanda Cabal (@MariaFdaCabal) December 25, 2022

The reaction of the head of state was known on the morning of this Monday: “It is not true that the savings that the Government makes from its transfers to Colpensiones today, will be spent tomorrow with the infrastructure reform. That is what private pension funds do today with billions of pesos. See it on Ruta del Sol II and on the Chirajara bridge” (SIC), said the head of state, referring to the pension reform project that the national government is preparing.

And he added: “The budget savings that are achieved with the reform and that do not come from contributors’ money, but from the national budget, will be spent on the pension bonus of half a minimum wage for the three million older adults who are today outside of the pension system” (SIC).

It is not true that the savings that the government makes from its transfers to colpensions today will be spent tomorrow, with the reform, on infrastructure. That is what private pension funds do today with billions of pesos. See it on Ruta del Sol II and on the Chirajara bridge.

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) December 26, 2022

“Only in the first two years will we spend half of the budget savings in reducing the fiscal deficit that we inherited to reduce the costs of national debt and, thus, produce a second budget savings that can be allocated to investment in infrastructure”, explained the head of state.

The mention of Dussán it unleashed a whole controversy in the country and an avalanche of criticism from different sectors. According to infrastructure experts, the construction of a mega project such as a train between Buenaventura and Barranquilla might cost approximately between 500 and 600 billion pesos.which would represent, on average, two annual general budgets of the nation.

This is not to mention that, for some observers, the profitability of a project of this magnitude should be such that it can respond to the recovery of Colombian pension savings that were borrowed for its development.

What did economic and political sectors say to the proposal?

After knowing the proposal of the president of Colpensiones, different economic and political sectors came out to express their doubts and criticisms regarding it.

Former Finance Minister and former presidential candidate Juan Carlos Echeverry was one of the first: “What???? ¿¿¿¿Invest my 40-year pension savings in a train between Buenaventura and Barranquilla, impossible to build and with negative profitability??? That is equivalent to throwing our savings down the drain. What gives Mr. Dussán the right to waste everyone’s savings?”, he stated on his Twitter account.

President Petro in the campaign announced his intention to appropriate the pension savings of Colombians, then said vehemently that he would not do it. He won. Now we know for sure that he continues on the path of appropriating the private savings of Colombians.

— Paloma Valencia L (@PalomaValenciaL) December 26, 2022

The lawyer expert in public law Daniel Briceño was also once morest: “Jaime Dussán wants to manage at will the 350 billion in pension savings that millions of Colombians have in private funds. The whole country must be alertthis politician allied with Samuel Moreno is one of the greatest dangers of the Petro government,” Briceño said.

From Uribismo, an opposition trend to the Petro Government, the criticism was not long in coming either. Senator and former presidential candidate María Fernanda Cabal affirmed that “playing with Colombian savings, as if they belonged to the State, is miserable. This is communism disguised as humanity.”

“Short circuit in the national government? One thing says @dussanja, president of @Colpensiones, and another very different -although equally worrisome- President Petro. This lack of coordination on a subject as sensitive as the pension is very serious. Dussán must leave office”, asked the representative to the Chamber for the Andrés Forero Democratic Center.