The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced this Sunday that in the new decree he will issue in the coming days regarding the minimum wage, ordered by the Council of State, he will maintain the value of what he calls the 'vital wage' for 2026, set at two million pesos (about $546), and did not rule out that this figure could be changed. 'Given that this is a ruling that orders us, I will accept the generation of a transitional decree,' Petro said in a national address about the 23.7% increase in the minimum wage, decreed at the end of last year and criticized by some sectors as excessive because it does not adjust to the country's economic reality. According to Petro, 'the new decree will maintain a vital wage,' although he clarified that, to comply with the requirements of the Council of State, the highest administrative court, he will present new studies that justify the increase in the minimum wage. 'But with the economic realities that from the day I signed (the decree) support that we were not wrong, but that the vital wage decreed can be modified according to new economic realities,' he added. Petro did not give details on how the minimum could be changed, but on Sunday local media circulated versions that the president could further increase the 'vital wage' to 2,155,000 pesos (about $589) per month. Last Friday, after the Council of State ordered the provisional suspension of the decree that increased the minimum wage by 23.7%, Petro echoed on X messages from Colombian economist Daniel Ossa, an assistant professor at the University of Denver (USA), according to which the basic remuneration could be even higher to close the social gap. 'If we want to close the gap now, the vital minimum wage should be 2,155,000 pesos per month,' Petro wrote. Meeting with business owners and unions In his address today, the president said that to study the minimum wage, he has convened a meeting of the Commission of Concertation for this Monday, which will be attended by his Minister of Labor, Antonio Sanguino, and representatives of the labor movement and business leaders. 'We will discuss this with business owners and the working class.'
