Colombia’s tax revenues for
January to April rose around 8.26 percent from a year earlier
to 23.6 trillion pesos or $10.31 billion, but fell slightly
below the target of around $10.49 billion for the four-month
period, the country’s tax authority said on Monday.
Investors are watching the Andean country’s tax receipts
for signs of a growing fiscal deficit as the global financial
crisis cuts into economic growth and trims demand for exports.
DIAN tax agency director Nestor Diaz said better corporate
income tax returns in April had helped push up receipts for the
four-month period this year despite the economic slowdown that
has hit industrial production and retail sales.
Diaz said the government was maintaining its target for tax
receipts for 2009 at 73.1 trillion pesos or $31.96 billion,
compared with 67 trillion pesos received last year.
Colombia’s central bank has forecast close to zero percent growth this year while the government says it expects the gross
domestic product to expand between 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent
in 2009, reduced from an initial forecast of 3 percent. (Reuters)