Colombian Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga on Tuesday said the year 2010 will be “very difficult” fiscally.
The government will have to take on more debt if tax revenues keeps deteriorating, Zuluaga said.
The Colombian government has sold $1 billion worth of 10-year international bonds in April to pre-finance its 2010 budget.
In recent months, tax collection in Colombia has fallen short of government expectations.
The government expects its deficit for 2009 to widen to the
equivalent to 2.3% of gross domestic product, compared with 0.1% in
2008, as a result of the economic slowdown. (Dow Jones)