The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recommended that Colombia lowers its spending and reforms its tax system in order to decrease its budget deficit and foreign debt, local media reported Tuesday.
The suggestions were made as a mission sent by the global financial system overseer on Tuesday completed its visit to the country to evaluate its economic behavior and current financial situation.
The leader of the mission, Marco Piñon, reported that the IMF considered an across-the-board structural reform of Colombia’s tax collection system as a feasible way for the government to collect more revenues.
The mission also noted that while Colombia’s economic growth was an estimated 0% for the year 2009, the IMF estimates that growth for 2010 will be between 2 and 2.5%.
The representatives did not rule out that the IMF will allow Colombia to pay back its $10.5 billion loan from the organization after the deadline in May, but that this had to be requested by the Colombian government first.
