The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indicated this Friday that the situation of Colombia's public finances is "unsustainable," and urges the Executive led by Abelardo de la Espriella to correct the deficit and recover budgetary balance.
"This is neither a sustainable nor a viable situation. We believe that the country needs a concerted effort to reduce the debt," stated in a press conference the director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the IMF, Nigel Chalk.
According to what he has indicated, the organization is evaluating together with the Colombian government various "options and strategies" to define the next steps, in a dialogue in which the country's authorities are reportedly showing "very committed." Chalk added that the IMF will send a technical mission to Bogotá at the beginning of November.
The Fund expects the Colombian economy to grow around 2.3% both this year and next, although Chalk emphasized that the potential of the South American country is "much greater than that" and that "it should be growing much faster."
The government opened contacts with the IMF shortly after coming to power in the summer with the aim of addressing a fiscal crisis that the Deputy Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Andrés Quevedo, has described as "critical" and "unprecedented."
Colombia ended 2025 with a public debt equivalent to 59.9% of GDP and the Minister of Finance, Miguel Gómez, already indicated at the end of August that the fiscal deficit for 2026 was expected to be 8.2%, above the 5.3% projected by the previous Executive of Gustavo Petro. However, Gómez maintains that the measures adopted will allow it to be reduced, ultimately, to 7.2%.