Colombia’s tax agency DIAN announced Monday that tax revenues were up 11.5% on-year in the first two months of 2010, to COP11.63 trillion ($6.13 billion).
This sum is 2% higher than the agency predicted. The better-than-expected sum comes despite the economy’s slow-down in 2009.
The increase in revenue was due to improved income tax collection, which increased by 24.5% in the first two months of 2010, while the takings from value added tax (VAT) rose 16%.
Foreign taxes fell by more than 15% due to a decrease in imports, generating COP1.8 trillion in January and February, compared to COP2.2 billion in the same period a year earlier.
“It was a very difficult year to predict because the repercussions of the international crisis which hit us here affected the production and marketing of goods and services,” said DIAN director Nestor Diaz.
The government expects the Colombian economy to grow by 2.5% in 2010, after 2009’s stagnation.
