Colombian court pauses Petro's economic emergency measures

BOGOTA, Jan 29 - ⁠Colombia's top ⁠court ‍on Thursday ordered President Gustavo Petro's government to pause an emergency decree ‍that had been intended to boost government ​finances, pending a final court decision.

Petro's administration put ​the measures into effect in December after a tax reform bill aimed at raising 16.3 trillion pesos ($4.45 billion) ​failed to pass in Congress.

The economic emergency gave Petro's government the power to make ​decisions by decree without authorization from Congress, a move that ‌allowed for higher taxes in an effort to raise 11 trillion pesos ($3 billion) ​to finance part of ⁠the 2026 budget.

Colombia in June raised the 2025 fiscal deficit target to ‌7.1% of GDP, from an original 5.1%, prompting ratings agencies to downgrade the country's sovereign rating.

Petro ‌had previously said that a suspension of the economic ‌emergency mesures in Colombia, Latin America's fourth-largest economy, would make the country's debt more expensive, and Interior ‍Minister Armando Benedetti on Thursday criticized the court decision.

“It's not right. By ⁠temporarily suspending the economic emergency, the mega-rich are being protected,” he said in a post on X.

($1 = 3,665.97 Colombian pesos)

(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra, Editing by Natalia Siniawski)

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