Far from being an exclusive “retreat” for the country’s best businessmen to think about Argentina’s future, this year the Llao Llao Forum was marked by the most urgent situation: the rise of the dollar, that in the three days of the demonstration were added 23 dollars, the interior of opposition candidates and the enormous political crisis of the ruling party, which hit the meeting where they were trying to promote dialogue.
Located in an almost heavenly spot on the outskirts of Bariloche, the emblematic Llao Llao hotel saw the owners of the country’s most important fortunes parade on Monday. Even to the main opposition candidates, who expressly went to the Patagonian city to present their government plans and discuss hand in hand how to get out of a crisis that has lasted for too many years.
The Forum, which has been held for more than ten years, has doubled the number of participants this time. Space for bilateral meetings, debates and even talks on artificial intelligence and the future of work. But in the corridors, perhaps due to the temperature that the price of the US ticket was taking in the City, perhaps due to the various alternatives that politicians proposed to put an end to exchange controls, the question of the dollar took flight.
“Of course it worries,” said one of the businessmen close to organizing the selected meeting. “This is why we say that the macro variables must be stabilized. But we see that this government is not able to do it. This is why it seemed important to us to listen to the candidates”, he added.
Aspiring to succeed Alberto Fernández since December have presented a varied “menu” of options to manage the weakness of the currency: from “maintaining the exchange rate trap to generating confidence”, passing through “removing the trap from the very beginning”. until full dollarization of the economy.
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, was blunt: “Anyone who says they can remove shares from day one or dollarize the economy is lying.” A businessman present crossed over to him and then asked when exchange controls might end. And the head of government of Buenos Aires retorted: “Would you come back from Uruguay on the first day of my mandate? No, because you need trust. The same happens with the dollar and checks.”
Larreta’s joke is valid because many of the businessmen, grouped in the Group for a better Argentina (GAM) in recent years they have settled in Uruguay. In fact, many joke that he should be called GUAM (Generation for a better Uruguay and Argentina).
Accompanied by her economic adviser, Luciano Laspina, her main opponent within her space, Patricia Bullrich, ensured that the abolition of the exchange rate was at the top of a list of priorities, even if she did not want to specify when or how would he do it. “We don’t know what will happen in these four months. The dollar has gone up again. The situation is extremely unstable. Inflation is very high, so we won’t make any predictions,” she told reporters the next morning.
The most radical position is that of Javier Milei, who, despite being applauded and asked for many selfies after his speech, has gathered doubts. Many businessmen have commented that the Liberal sounded nervous and shaky when explaining his ideas and that although the idea of dollarize the economy may seem attractive, he hasn’t finished “selling” it.. “Milei didn’t reach the people”, commented an entrepreneur at the end of the Forum.
The businessmen listened carefully and took note. They also asked questions. The dinners with the leading candidates of Together for Change, Patricia Bullrich and Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, on Monday and Tuesday ended around midnight, because the times set for the exchange with the business men and women took longer than expected .
Finally, they did their little poll. They wondered if they should vote today who would get their support and in that small focus group among the country’s most important fortunes, the president of the PRO, Patricia Bullrich, came out the winner. However, at the end of the meeting, a businessman assured: “Many liked Patricia, but she was a technical draw with Horacio.”
What he didn’t like was the rudeness of the ruling party. After the two absentees on notice of Wado de Pedro and Sergio Massa, although the economy minister told more than one that he had not received an invitation, the last-minute absence of President Alberto Fernández left a disagreement.
“The president cancelled, Massa didn’t come. It’s wrong,” said one of the entrepreneurs of the younger wing of the party. “We gave the country’s president the opportunity to talk to Argentina’s most important businessmen and he didn’t take advantage of it.” Someone recalled that a week ago Fernández had said: “We must end the discussion between entrepreneurs on one side and the state on the other”.
Source: Clarin
