Mission impossible? A look at Colombia’s proposed tax reform

After several months of waiting, the Colombian government unveiled a tax bill intended to address the fiscal and social crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the proposed bill has not been well-received, and the following verdict has been almost unanimous: the proposal punishes the Colombian middle-class and jeopardizes economic recovery. Unless an agreement is reached in Congress in the coming months, Colombia could risk its post-pandemic socioeconomic recovery.

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Is calling Colombia a leader on climate action premature?

Colombia’s ambitious new pledge aims to reduce its emissions by 51 percent compared to projected emissions in 2030 and reduce black carbon or soot emissions by 40 percent compared to 2014. The new target is consistent with the Paris Agreement’s goal and has put Colombia on a more promising path to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

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Could two wrongs make a right?

Enabling early pension withdrawals proved to be a suboptimal policy in Chile. Yet for other Latin American countries, early pension withdrawals should not be immediately discounted as a viable policy option.

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Ecuador beyond the electoral result

After the election on February 7, Ecuador is now faced with a runoff between Andrés Arauz and Guillermo Lasso on April 11. Regardless of the outcome, the challenges facing the country’s economic future are enormous.

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Top six risks for Colombia in 2021

It is not difficult to foreshadow that 2021 will be a tough year for Colombia as it grapples with COVID-19, struggles to maintain economic growth, begins the 2022 electoral cycle, deals with the aftermath of climate-related disasters, and with the security and implementation challenges of the Peace Agreement.

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