President Gustavo Petro declared an economic emergency in Colombia

Published at: 24/12/2025 10:15 PM

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, declared a state of economic emergency for 30 days after the collapse in Congress of the tax reform project that sought to raise more than 16 trillion pesos for the national budget of 2026.

The measure, as reported by the Latest News portal, points out that it is contained in Decree 1390 of 2025, it gives the Executive the power to establish new taxes or modify existing ones, with the objective of guaranteeing the provision of essential public services and dealing with what it described as a serious fiscal situation.

Petro defended the decision, arguing that the country has maintained a primary deficit since previous governments and that the refusal of Congress to approve the tax reform, added to the monetary policy of the Banco de la República, has increased the risk of debt unsustainability.

The president stressed that new resources must come from the most privileged sectors of the economy: “the megaric who have been the beneficiaries of economic policy.”

“The press today continues its quest to misinform the people of the government's actions. We don't borrow to finance current or investment spending by the current government. We only borrow to pay the debt of previous governments, which in the case of debt...”, he said in a message on account of the social network X.

The rejected tax reform was the third submitted by the Petro Government since 2022. While the first was approved months after his arrival to the Presidency, the next two - in 2024 and 2025 - were rejected by Congress.

The Executive maintains that the lack of approval of these initiatives compromises the country's fiscal stability and limits the capacity to finance social and infrastructure programs.

The opposition criticized the declaration of emergency, accusing the Government of wasting public resources and resorting to exceptional measures instead of reducing spending.

Petro, for his part, warned that, if the Constitutional Court decides to overturn the decree, the country's risk will increase and the debt will become unsustainable, generating a larger economic crisis.

Mazo News Team