LatinNews Daily - 24 July 2024

*Colombia’s comptroller general’s office has issued a statement expressing “alarm” at a steep drop in tax revenue during the first six months of 2024. It noted that from January-June, the tax take was Col$126.63trn (US$31.52bn), which was down by 17% on the same period in 2023. This, the comptroller general’s office said, was a sharper drop than the 13% year-on-year fall that was recorded in the first six months of 2020, when Colombia went into lockdown during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. It said that in the first half of this year, the tax authority (Dian) has only collected 40% of the tax revenue that was forecast in the 2024 national budget. The statement blamed the tax shortfall on a drop in revenue from income tax and on the poor results of measures to reduce tax evasion. Congress voted in June to raise Colombia’s debt ceiling by US$17.6bn in response to the worsening fiscal situation, and President Gustavo Petro has said that his government will need to cut public spending by Col$39trn next year.