One of the first to speak out was President Gustavo Petro, who described the rejection of the bill seeking to raise 9.8 trillion pesos (about 2,280 million dollars), as a blow to the Colombian people.

Echoing Petro’s words, Senator Maria Jose Pizarro estimated that a handful of political bosses decided to deny the social investment budget to half of the country’s departments, only to harm the Government.

“Those same politicians, as they did 200 years ago, have just denied them access to their rights: education, culture, housing, public services. Greed and hatred of the president has been put above the welfare of the nation”, she commented in a message to citizens.

The director of the National Planning Department, Alexander Lopez, warned that the lawmakers’ decision regarding the financing law hinders the economic reactivation, the generation of employment and the nation’s growth.

“It is a direct blow to the middle class and the poorest sectors of Colombia, as they attempt to harm Petro”, he told the press.

House representative David Racero, in turn, remarked that four tax bills were approved under the administration of Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) and three under Ivan Duque (2018-2022), disregarding the fact that latter left a double-digit inflation and a gross foreign debt of more than 60 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

“But, to this government, which has kept unemployment in one digit and inflation at 5.2 percent, which has lifted one million 600 thousand people out of poverty, which has prioritized investment in agriculture and education like no other, they reject a Financing bill without discussing it”, he lamented.

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