Government liquidates budget addition of 624.656 billion for earthquake emergency

President Abelardo de la Espriella issued Decree 1488 of 2026, which liquidates the resources added to the General National Budget for the 2026 fiscal year in the amount of $624,656,000,000. The regulation was published in the Official Gazette No. 53,650 on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, in the decrees section of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, and takes effect the day following its publication. The resources stem from the addition established by Decree 1412 of 2026 and are tied to the emergency caused by the earthquake of August 10, 2026.

The decree is based on Article 67 of the Organic Budget Statute, which empowers the national Government to issue the liquidation decree and requires it to be accompanied by an annex detailing the expenditure. The regulatory chain begins with Law 2559 of 2025, which decreed the revenue budget and the appropriations law for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2026, and with Decree 1477 of 2025, which liquidated that budget.

Decree 1261 of August 19, 2026, modified by Decree 1348 of August 31, 2026, declared a State of Economic, Social, and Ecological Emergency due to a grave public calamity in part of the national territory. Decree 1412 of September 17, 2026, added to the budget the same sum now being liquidated, and Decree 1379 of 2026 created the Milagro Fund as an autonomous patrimony to administer the emergency resources.

What the decree liquidates

Article 1 adds to the Revenue and Capital Resources Budget for the 2026 fiscal year the amount of six hundred twenty-four billion six hundred fifty-six million pesos. The breakdown of income is as follows:

• I. National Budget Income: $624,656,000,000
• 2. National Capital Resources: $624,656,000,000
• Total addition: $624,656,000,000

Article 2 does the same for the Expenditure Budget or Appropriations Law, for an identical amount, charged to Section 1301 – Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, under the item A. Operating Budget. Article 3 states that the decree is accompanied by an annex with the expenditure details, and Article 4 sets its effective date as the day following publication.

The origin: a loan with the IBRD

The resources correspond to the disbursement of External Loan Agreement number 9774-CO, signed on June 27, 2025, between the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for USD 200,000,000. This is the “Fourth Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Loan with a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option”.

Following the earthquake of August 10, 2026, Decree 1171 of 2026 declared a national disaster situation and activated the emergency line; the disbursement of $624,656,000,000 was carried out on August 13, 2026. The territorial scope of the emergency covers the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Chocó, Quindío, Cundinamarca, Risaralda, Huila, Valle del Cauca, Tolima, Norte de Santander, Bolívar, Nariño, Sucre, Santander, and Caquetá.

The legal basis

The decree incorporates constitutional jurisprudence regarding the nature of the liquidation decree. It cites Judgment C-170 of 2020, according to which the liquidation of the PGN (General National Budget) and its annex are elements proper to an executive decree and not a decree with the force of law, and Judgment C-215 of 2020, which reiterated that rule in the context of a state of emergency.

It also invokes judgments C-354 of 1998 and C-629 of 1996, which defined liquidation as the operation intended to detail and specify each of the budget items. The Government maintains that, even in states of exception, the faculty of Article 67 of the EOP (Organic Budget Statute) does not change and that the stages of addition and liquidation must not be confused.

Liquidation is the step that enables the effective execution of spending: without it, entities cannot commit the additional resources for the remainder of 2026. The decree was signed by President Abelardo de la Espriella and the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Miguel Gómez Martínez, and its annex defines the final destination of the $624,656 million.

Source: Official Gazette No. 53,650, Tuesday, October 6, 2026, Section I (Decrees, Ministry of Finance and Public Credit), p. 1 (official reference: Decree 1488 of 2026).