Government Announces COP 21.9 Trillion Spending Cut, Blames Petro for Fiscal Crisis

After a September 14 address in which de la Espriella vowed 'every peso belonging to Colombians must have a justification and a purpose,' his government formally announced an immediate COP 21.9 trillion cut across national entities, with each ministry choosing which budget lines to trim through year-end. Finance Minister Miguel Gómez Martínez said the administration inherited a 2026 budget of COP 575.6 trillion with a deficit exceeding COP 30 trillion and a COP 37.4 trillion debt-service shortfall, for combined financing gaps near COP 59 trillion across pensions, health, salaries, public universities and fuel subsidies — 'Sacrificaremos la grasa y la burocracia. Privilegiaremos la inversión.' Presidential spokesperson Miller Soto said the government 'received public finances in a critical state.' A broader structural reform fusing or closing ministries is due to Congress in November. Petro rejected the fiscal-crisis framing as manipulated arithmetic. The same week Gómez, Public Credit Director César Arias and Vice Minister Juan Sebastián Betancur pitched the austerity plan and a 2027 budget (projected deficit as high as 9.4% of GDP without adjustment) to bankers, asset managers and hedge funds in New York, saying external 2027 borrowing needs could land near half the ~$28 billion originally budgeted.