General Budget of the Nation 2024: What are the Government’s investment priorities?

The bill for the General Budget of the Nation 2024 has been filed for COP $502.6 trillion pesos, which is equivalent to 29.6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Now, the bill must pass the four regulatory debates, since it was not filed with an urgency message. The first debate will be held on September 19.

The amount of the general budget represents an increase of 3.3 percentage points of participation in the GDP with respect to the year 2022, when the budget was COP $422.8 billion, including the budgetary addition of COP $16.9 billion.

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Within this budget allocation, it has been defined that Ps. 310.3 trillion will be allocated to the operation of the government and its various agencies, while Ps. 97.7 trillion will be directed towards investments in key sectors for the country’s development. In addition, 94.5 trillion pesos will be allocated to the payment of the national debt, reflecting the government’s fiscal commitment.

Although there are resource needs for all sectors, it is surprising that the industrial sector is not among the largest investment allocations, given the current government’s reindustrialization banner.

If the project is approved as it stands, the industrial sector would receive close to COP $400,215 million, 5% of the investment in mines and energy.

According to the general budget visualization tool, developed by the Fiscal Observatory of the Universidad Javeriana, there are five sectors that will receive a considerable portion of the 97.7 trillion that will be allocated to investment. These allow establishing the government’s strategic priorities for next year:

Social Prosperity: COP $22.4 trillion, the sector that will benefit the most from the General Budget of the Nation 2024

This sector would have an allocation of COP 22.4 trillion, which represents 23% of the investment budget.

If the General Budget of the Nation 2024 is approved, these resources will be distributed in COP $10.3 trillion for the Administrative Department for Social Prosperity, COP $9.6 trillion for the Colombian Institute of Social Welfare and COP $2.3 trillion for the Unit for Attention and Integral Reparation to Victims.

In addition, 200 billion will be distributed among the Historical Memory Center, the National Institute for the Blind and the National Institute for the Deaf.

Transportation: COP $13.6 billion

The transportation sector is the second investment priority in the general budget, with an allocation of COP $13.6 billion pesos, equivalent to 14% of investment resources.

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Of these resources, COP $7.5 billion would be invested in the National Infrastructure Agency, COP $4 billion in the National Roads Institute and COP $1.7 billion in the Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics.

The other COP 400 billion would be distributed among the Ministry of Transportation, the National Road Safety Agency, the Superintendence of Ports and Transportation and the Transportation Infrastructure Sector Planning Unit.

Education: COP $8.4 billion pesos

The third sector with the largest allocation of resources in the 2024 General Budget of the Nation is education. If the project is approved as proposed, it will receive 8.4 trillion pesos, corresponding to 8.6% of the investment.

The Ministry of Education would receive COP $6.2 billion and the Special Administrative Unit of School Feeding COP $2 billion. The remaining approximately $200 billion would be distributed among public universities, institutes and technical and technological training schools.

Agriculture: COP 8.1 billion

In fourth position is the investment of the general budget in the agricultural sector, which is fundamental for food security and rural development. If the project is approved, it will receive an allocation of 8.1 trillion pesos, which represents 8.3% of the investment budget.

Of this amount, COP $5.1 trillion would be allocated to the National Land Agency, COP $1.3 trillion to the Ministry of Agriculture and COP $905,000 million to the Rural Development Agency.

In addition, COP $790,000 million would be distributed among the Special Administrative Unit for the Management of the Restitution of Divested Lands, the Colombian Agricultural Institute and the National Authority of Aquaculture and Fishing.

Mines and Energy, the fifth priority in the 2024 National General Budget: $8 trillion

In fifth place is the investment for the mining and energy sector, which would be COP $8 billion, representing 8.2% of the investment budget.

Of these resources, the Ministry of Mines and Energy would channel COP $7.2 trillion. The remaining COP $800 billion would be distributed among the National Hydrocarbons Agency, the IPSE, the National Mining Agency, the Colombian Geological Service and the Mining and Energy Planning Unit.

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