Level of defense expenditures
“El Gasto Militar sería el gasto público destinado por cada país a sus FFMM (Ejército, Armada y Fuerza Aérea), como instituciones encargadas de la protección de los Estados frente a las amenazas externas. En Colombia, el artículo 217 de la Constitución Política establece que las “Fuerzas Militares tendrán como finalidad primordial la defensa de la soberanía, la independencia, la integridad del territorio nacional y del orden constitucional.”
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Therefore, the Military Expenditure also includes the costs related to maintain the necessary conditions for the exercise of public rights and freedoms, and to ensure that the inhabitants of Colombia live in peace.
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In this sense, the defense expenditure item is composed of the following aspects:
1. The central sector
2. The decentralized sector (affiliated and related entities and companies)
In these terms, In Colombia for 2017 the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit presented the General Budget of the Nation (PGN), which would register an increase close to 3.0 percent over that of this year. Therefore, from this, the amount destined for the defense sector is approximately 28.6 trillion pesos, surpassing 2% to that allocated in 2016.
“Estos recursos nos permitirán mantener la fortaleza de nuestras Fuerzas Armadas, la inversión, el bienestar y funcionamiento del Sector Defensa y sus 450 mil uniformados y servidores públicos, que son la base del progreso, el desarrollo y la paz de Colombia”, that was how the Minister of Defense, Luis Carlos Villegas, explained.
Thus, it is planned that the amount allocated by the Government is to be invested in the maintenance and purchase of equipment, the construction of more police stations, the modernization of communications systems, and the implementation of humanitarian demining missions.
Therefore it is necessary to emphasize the increase in the budget for military expenditure. When President Juan Manuel Santos took office on August 7, 2010, the budget for defense was 21 trillion pesos (about $ 7.17 billion). Currently, the budget will be 28.6 trillion pesos (about 9.750 million dollars). Y Compared to the budget initially established in July 2016, an increase of 350,000 million pesos (about 119 million dollars) was achieved. As a result, there is a positive trend in the increase of resources for defense and military spending in the country.
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