Grandparents say that in times of ‘lean times’ you have to adjust, spend less and avoid getting into debt as much as possible.
‘Lean times’ is a term used to refer to a time in which, for multiple reasons, the income of a family, company or society is drastically reduced, to the point that financial planning is necessary to prevent the crisis from getting worse.
We Neivans have indeed suffered this, it is enough to remember the terrible management of the municipality’s finances in the government of Gorky Muñoz when they inflated the budget to overwhelm operating expenses and increase public debt, however, no one noticed that the collection of income fell, which generated illiquidity in the treasury, increasing the fiscal deficit and causing Neiva to lose its first category.
At the national level, according to experts, something similar could be happening.
And in recent weeks the alarms have been ringing due to the collapse of national incomes, which for the month of April 2024 – compared to the same month in 2023 – fell by 40.9%; It is also worrying that the annual cumulative figure is -10.3%, a figure that has not been seen since the global crisis of 2010.
The issue is not minor since it warns of possible illiquidity on the part of the National Government this year. This information coincides with the small balance of resources that currently exists in the deposits of the National Treasury of the Bank of the Republic.
If this situation continues or even if it worsens, millions of Colombians will be affected, mainly the most vulnerable population, since the National Government would be forced to make a sharp cut in the spending budget, which would immediately affect social and infrastructure investment in the whole country.
This concern is also transferred to territorial governments, since illiquidity could cause paralysis in the State’s cash flow, affecting the disbursements of previously acquired commitments or even the co-financing of their development plans, mainly the strategic projects component. .
To address this situation, President Petro has proposed making the fiscal rule more flexible, in order to increase the spending and debt limits of the Nation, a proposal that is not welcome because it would make public debt more expensive and open the door for a greater waste of money in operation, that is, in bureaucracy.
It would be better then for the National Government to dedicate itself to organizing its finances, lowering public spending and prioritizing investment in those sectors that most boost the economy and generate employment in the country.
We are warned, either do this or the economy gets out of hand.
