translated from Spanish: Colombia’s finance minister resigns amid reform crisis

Colombia’s finance minister, Alberto Carrasquilla, resigned this Monday, a day after President Ivan Duque ordered the withdrawal of the tax reform bill submitted to Congress, which detonated street protests in the country in which at least 19 people have died.
Carrasquilla, who had been in government since the first day of the Duke Administration, was the architect of the controversial tax reform and with the collapse of that initiative and the president’s intention to replace it with another fruit of political consensus, his outpoic exit from office was taken for granted.
“My continuity in government would make it difficult to build the necessary consensus quickly and efficiently,” the official said in his resignation letter.
Carrasquilla, who was also Minister of Finance for three years in the Government of Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010), told Duque that the withdrawal of the tax reform project “is an opportunity to initiate and to have a serene and constructive dialogue that leads to the consensuses that the country urgently requires,” according to that portfolio.
The villain of the crisis
The minister became the villain of the current crisis because of the harshness of the failed tax reform project that hit the middle and lower class in particular by expanding the tax base and collecting 19% VAT on public services.
The social unrest caused by the reform, which Duque tried to sustain until the last moment despite the fact that the initiative was born without any political support, gave rise to massive manifestations of rejection throughout the country that began on April 28 and are already six days old.
“Quickly reaching a democratic consensus around a reform of colombia’s tax system is imperative,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement informing of Carrasquilla’s resignation.
The controversy of eggs
Outrage against the minister increased in mid-April when in an interview with Semana magazine about the impact of tax reform on colombians’ pockets he saw that he did not know the cost of a family basket staple, like a dozen eggs.
“It depends on the quality, but let’s say 1,800 pesos (about 47 cents) a dozen or something is what I have in my head,” he said, being that the price exceeds 4,500 pesos (about $1.20), which also made him a mockery in all manifestations.
In reporting Carrasquilla’s resignation, the Ministry of Finance considered “it essential that the social and economic protection programmes that began to expire since last March be continued”.
He also warned that “in the absence of gradual and orderly reform of taxation, the country’s macroeconomic stability would be seriously compromised,” as the Government s aspired to raise 23.4 trillion pesos (about $6.3 billion) to improve the state of public finances and continue social programmes for the poorest.
The reform crisis has been felt in financial markets where the dollar rose more than 2% and closed at 3,804 pesos, the highest rate of the last 30 days.
The Government has not reported whether Carrasquilla’s resignation entails the re-issue of all economic equipment or who will replace the official.

Original source in Spanish

Related Posts

Add Comment