In Colombia major legislation was passed that will spread billions of dollars from oil and mining royalties more evenly across the nation. Colombia is the fourth largest producer of crude oil in Latin America and is set to hike exports of not just oil but also coal and metals in the coming years.
This is the second of three large fiscal reforms planned by President Juan Manuel Santos to go through. The bill was passed despite protest against it in commodity regions. The reforms will see the royalties for the commodities regions go down from 70% to 25% in an effort to distribute the royalties more evenly across the country.
The country can claim that its crack down on illegal armed groups since 2002 has seen fresh investment in oil and mining come into being. The country is all set to ramp up the production of thermal and metallurgical coal, other metals, minerals and of course of petroleum as well. The Colombian Finance Minster Juan Carlos Echeverry said that they were creating a new country that was going to have the possibility to develop.
As he spoke with reporters he added that they would have savings to combat the Dutch disease and they were going to have resources for the whole country. He said that 30% of the royalties would be saved and used for such purposes.
The economic reforms will go a long way in taking Colombia from being a country famous for drugs, violence and guerrilla wars to an attractive destination for foreign investors. The energy and mining sectors are the key to boosting the nation’s economic development.