Andi says the responsible thing to do would be to cut the 2026 budget by around 45 billion pesos.

The National Association of Entrepreneurs of Colombia (Andi) called on the government and Congress to safeguard the country's fiscal and macroeconomic sustainability amid the discussion of the 2026 budget, which is underfunded by 26.3 trillion pesos and for which a new tax reform is planned.

"A thorough and realistic study is required to determine the true capabilities of Colombian citizens and businesses to continue transferring resources to the state," asserted the association led by Bruce Mac Master.

Furthermore, Andi said that Congress now has a historic responsibility to approve an amount commensurate with the revenue the economy is capable of generating. " This is an urgent and peremptory call to the legislature to find a budget that Colombia can realistically afford ," said Mac Master.

Likewise, he asserted that if the country makes a mistake in approving the budget amount, it could send Colombia into an "unsustainable" situation in terms of resources that would have to be collected through taxes.

“Higher taxes would not only produce higher inflation, but also a blow to competitiveness and probably employment. We cannot increase our debt, nor can we burden Colombian households and future generations, precisely at a time when we are barely recovering; and we cannot send the wrong messages to the markets, saying that we are not taking on the challenge of a serious adjustment to public finances ,” he maintained.

The budget presented by the Ministry of Finance amounts to 557 billion pesos, an amount that the Andi considers "unsustainable" and runs counter to the fiscal austerity that has been consistently called for. Therefore, they recommend that a responsible cut of around 45 billion pesos would be appropriate.

"When the escape clause was used to temporarily suspend the fiscal rule, the country committed to following a path of adjustment to return to this rule after three years. The first thing that must be seriously discussed is where spending should be cut," Mac Master added.