Between January and May, Colombia accumulated a deficit in its trade balance of 6,489.9 million dollars, 20.5% higher than the 5,386.3 million in the same period last year.
The trade imbalance is the main reason for the wide current account deficit of the fourth economy of Latin Americawhich last year more than doubled to 17,833 million dollars, equivalent to 5.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Central Bank of Colombia estimates that the trade deficit would be reduced to 5.1% of GDP in 2022.
“The issue of exports for the Government is the number one priority in terms of productive development“, said Ocampo during a presentation at the annual congress of the National Association of Entrepreneurs of Colombia (ANDI)in the Caribbean city of Cartagena.
“We continue to depend heavily on the Petroleum and of Coal as exports and we have to radically diversify, it is an important challenge,” added Ocampo.
Oil and coal exports in Colombia reached 15,604 million dollars during the first semester and represented 54.5% of total Colombian foreign sales.
Tax reform
Additionally, Ocampo announced that he is willing to discuss changes in a tax reform project that he presented to Congress, key to financing the social programs of the government of the leftist president Gustavo Petro and reduce the bulge fiscal deficitof about 80 billion pesos.
“We can debate all these issues and analyze if there are better solutions, but the alternative is not to lower (the amount),” Ocampo said. “That alternative does not exist.”
The guilds They have warned that the tax initiative, which in principle contemplates additional taxes for the business sector for around 12 billion pesos a year (2,808 million dollars), could impact private investment plans.
A large part of the collection on the business sector would be concentrated in the extractive industry, on which Petro has announced that it will not allow the signing of new oil exploration contracts.
Source: Ambito
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