Within the framework of the filing of the National Development Plan (PND), a roadmap drawn up by the national government for the next four years, several opposition parliamentarians have already begun to sound the alarm regarding some aspects contained in this article, which already began to be debated in the Congress of the Republic.
In this order of ideas, and beyond the extraordinary powers that it would grant to the Executive, one of the issues that attracted the most attention in the first hours since it began its course in Congress on March 21, 2023, the senator from opposition, Miguel Uribe Turbay (Democratic Center), drew attention to three very specific aspects that, according to him, will be deeply detrimental to the national economy.
Of course, he began by warning that, as his study progresses, it is very likely that more monkeys will come to light.
“I can announce it now: we are going to begin to have a series of discoveries after the approval of this paper, where citizens will feel concerned, before a National Development Plan that will not improve the living conditions of Colombians. This is an underdevelopment plan that is full of good intentions but that will give few and the worst results (…) This is one more chapter of a government that, evidently, is failing,” Senator Uribe Turbay began by warning.
1. A PND that turns its back on the productive sector
The first call for attention that Uribe Turbay made was related to economic development, and he took stock of the current situation:
“Today Colombia in economic matters cannot be worse. Today we are the country with the worst devaluation in Latin America; we are the country with the greatest increase in risk premiums; we are the country with the worst performance in the stock market, and we are the country with the oil company that has lost the most value in the region, although with a great performance”, he indicated.
Having said this, and calling attention to how Colombians are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, due to rising inflation and the ever-increasing cost of food, the parliamentarian drew attention to how this government is not You are paying attention to what Fedesarrollo said.
He explained that, “paradoxically”, this government has said that it wants to end poverty, a fact against which Fedesarrollo indicated that, between 2002 and 2017, the main source to end it was economic growth.
“What interests us is promoting economic growth as a generator of opportunities. Fedesarrollo says that the reduction of poverty in the years that I already mentioned is explained, 72%, by economic growth and the only thing this PND does is hit the private initiative and hit the productive sector”, pointed out Uribe Turbay.
He added that if a tax reform is added to this, “which this Congress painfully approved against that sector and the labor reform is also added, what we are creating is an explosive cocktail in which it will be impossible to generate employment and opportunities.” , concluded in this first respect.
2. Royalties for regions will decrease
The second aspect to which he drew attention was that of the regions, reiterating that this is a National Development Plan that turns its back on the regions, which is why he called on the representatives to unite against the loss of regional autonomy. .
“This PND goes against economic growth, it goes against liberties and it goes against the regions. The representatives to the Chamber should unite so that we demand that the government not take away autonomy from the regions. But I say that above all because of the royalties. Here we approved the Royalties Investment Plan a few weeks ago and what we are seeing is a government that wants to reduce their value for the regions”, he warned in this regard.
Mining-energy sector, the only one that decreases
And the third aspect to which he drew attention was related to the constant decrease in the mining-energy sector.
“The only sector that decreases is the mining-energy sector. This is the only sector that during the four consecutive years has a decrease. So I wonder: Is that what we’re really betting on? For the main sector that generates 55% of exports, 26% of direct investment, which generates 7% of GDP and 14% by 2023 of government revenue to decrease? this is a shot in the foot,” concluded the senator from the Democratic Center. with Infobae