At this conference of the Industrial Union, sometimes there are businessmen more attentive to the ongoing negotiations for prices with the Government compared to what was said on the panels. Time is running out, Sergio Massa wants to announce it tomorrow. This was stated by Daniel Funes de Rioja, head of the UIA Clarione that if it is “special prices ”, they will have me in the photo. But he made it clear that there must be a “context to keep prices quiet until March”. So he was referring to the exchange anchor, to the fact that there are no reinforcements outside parity in a sector such as the food sector where labor accounts for 25% in the cost of SMEs and another 20% in logistics.
In the corridors, said the economist Martín Rapetti, widely consulted that Massa’s promise of 3% monthly inflation in 2023 is not being met. “But I don’t see a devaluation,” she assured.
Yerba mate entrepreneurs have explained that it will be difficult to comply with with an increase in raw materials guaranteed by the government of up to 50%. The same happens to those in wine who see a sharp increase in the value of grapes after the catastrophe caused by the frosts.
Others have pointed this out they don’t believe in what the government is offering. That is, access to dollars for imports if they provide and complement the new pricing scheme. Everything happens while Massa waits in the Parque Norte VIP lounge where there is also a waiting list to bring concerns to the minister.
“Producing transforms” is the motto chosen by the UIA for its conference, which this time coincided with the Day of Tradition. The immense room of the Parque Norte is packed with fewer owners and many CEOs and executives of companies. Well yes the bar of the young UIA he runs makes itself heard Silvana Roitman of Entre Ríos and encouraged by Tomás Karagozian, son of one of the tsars of the textile industry. The UIA had to replace Alberto Fernández in time and chose Labor Minister Kelly Olmos.
The young bar and with less intensity the businessmen indicate where the pulse beats. An example: Javier Madanes Quintanilla was much applauded when he said, quoting the Babylonians: “We are not afraid of being profitable, but inefficient”, clearly referring to the fiscal level.
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta’s election speech was also celebrated, introducing the idea of Generation 23. He called them heroes, he recognized that they would be competitive if Argentina were a normal country.
But at the tables the conversation turns frozen prices, the lack of dollars that causes some mining companies to have no inputs or auto companies have to paralyze and redesign production schemes. Others point to inflation which causes them to change budgets and unbalance their accounts. And the tax burden on basic products such as food and medicines. And there is a widespread fear: a sign of cooling the economy.
It was Javier Madanes Quintanilla, president of Aluar and Fate, who described the current photo. “It’s not that alarming. We have a GDP per capita close to the average, below 11,000 US dollars, higher than the 7,500 in Brazil. What is striking is what has happened over the past 60 years. Argentina’s GDP grew by 800%, in the world by 2,000% and in Brazil by 2,800%. It is a race that we are losing. We don’t realize it and we miss it for our potential first business partner. We thought that Argentina was the spare wheel of Brazil, but today the spare wheel does not exist, it is of inferior quality that circulates at low speed and for short distances and it does not help much. We must do better what we are doing, but only 0.5% of GDP in research and development while the world allocates 2% ”.
Hugo Sigman surprised by asking Tax reform. Of course, before painting the world landscape. He puts it this way: “There is a notice in which the West notes that the East represents 30% of world GDP and what is being discussed is where will the global economy be, because what was a planetary globalization in which the circulation of capital, goods and technology has been reduced and will further reduce“. Sigman looks at growing tension between the US and China that embraces Europe and advises an intelligent and active alignment in a scenario of rising inflation due to rising costs. “The axis in decision making has changed. They will be more geopolitical than economic. We will have to move into duality. Look what Brazil has done with 5G, it has left the Chinese in everything to do with technology, but it has distinguished them in terms of safety. ”He walked away to applause.
The good news has been given by those involved in the pipeline, who have assured that it is progressing at a good pace. “In our case the dollars are there and it is obvious that there are”, said one of the businessmen in charge of that gigantic work.
Source: Clarin
