Although they understand the reasons why the “soybean dollar” or the “Qatar dollar” were implemented, they still maintain that the economy cannot continue to operate with 10 different exchange rates. “When you have to implement so many dollars, it is that you are avoiding a general devaluation”, they comment – albeit quietly. The unification of the foreign exchange market is a permanent demand of businessmen who, they believe, will demand a devaluation, a measure that nobody wants to mention publicly, but they estimate that it will happen sooner rather than later.
Fatigue
The situation, which forces most businessmen to waste more time in the state bureaucracy than in their companies, even leads them to not even have much interest in talking about the economic situation.
“There is a general tiredness.” It is that those who comb gray hair remember that for more than 30 years the same problems for which Argentina never takes off have been discussed in colloquiums.
As Daniel Herrero summed it up, President of the 58th Colloquium: “La Argentina is a country in a constant state of ‘latent power’, but which continues to be battered by a spiral of recurring crises. Precisely the opportunities presented by Argentina have been a permanent theme in the Colloquiums for decades. “The CEO of my company is already tired of me talking about the opportunities in Argentina,” confessed a manager of a multinational.
Another of the business complaints is the time lost in adapting to the innumerable regulations and traps. “I should be thinking about how to expand my business and not how to get an import approved.” In this regard, on the 12th of this month the SIMI import regime was repealed and only on Monday the 17th will the new one, the SIRA, begin to operate. “For 6 days, at least, are new imports not approved? Asked a businessman
In this regard, another executive of a multinational warned that next week will be “chaotic” due to the implementation of the new system. He explained that, since all the orders from the previous system that were not authorized were cancelled, the companies have to load all the orders again, to which new import orders will be added, which can collapse the system.
Another complaint in the corridors of IDEA is the multiple exchange rates. They commented as a success the tweet of Rodolfo Vargas Arizu “USD Coldplay $200, but if you set up a farm and winery and invest 20 years and export bottled wine under the Argentina brand, the Central Bank pays you $150 less withholdings!!! …
More than one executive felt represented in that complaint as well as in the words of Juan Carlos Torre (author of the book Diary of a season on the fifth floor) when he stated: ” “we have human material prepared to move in adversity.
Consensus
The Colloquium chose as its leitmotif “Give in order to grow”; In the informal chats of the coffee breaks, many businessmen admit that they see “it is quite difficult to reach consensus”. They affirm that the prevailing thought is defensive and, therefore, it is requested “Let the other give in”. Politics has not made life easy for the business sector.
They consider that until now politics has not done its part: in the last 60 years there has been a primary fiscal deficit, with the sole exception, curiously, of the period from 2004 to 2009 during the Nestor and Cristina Kirchner.
Again Herrera graphed the general feeling: “It is a recurring story, full of confrontations and lack of minimum agreements that prevent us from thinking of a country in the long term.” In general, businessmen and a large part of society hold the political leadership responsible for having a “short-term” view. as stated Sebastian Ceria (President of Fundar and CEO of Qontigo) “It is not easy not to see the crises we have experienced and as a country we cannot afford to fail”.
Ceria was another of those who gave a positive message. “There are not many countries in the world that have been able to have more than 10 unicorns; nor that they have participated in the space race or the development of seeds against drought”, facts that show the Argentine talent that manages to emerge despite the difficulties.
Message that partially counteracted the assertion “If Jeff Bezos had been Argentine, Amazon would not have been born in Argentina because the conditions to install its system are not given and commercial protection claims would have arisen,” he said. Xavier Salas i Martin, professor at Columbia University.
Missing
The politicians, the makers of the changes, until Thursday were conspicuous by their absence in this Colloquium. Before, they used to be present for the three days that the meeting lasted, they made “informal coffees” with businessmen.
On this occasion, the presence of politicians at the Colloquium will be reserved, “closed lunches for some businessmen” and absolutely forbidden to the press. If there is any activity that should be public, it is precisely the dialogue between politicians and society. Several lunches are planned: Patricia Bullrich, president of the PRO (the most demanded); the radical deputy Facundo Manesthe libertarian deputy Javier Milei Y George Neme (by the Government). Meanwhile, those businessmen who are more concerned about the economy will have the chance to have lunch with Robert Lavagna either Charles Melconian. All these activities behind closed doors and with the right of admission, a mechanism that generated discomfort among some of the attending businessmen.
The governors of Chaco, Jorge CaptainichJujuy, Gerardo MoralesSanta Fe, Omar Perottifrom the City of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodriguez Larreta and of Saint John, Sergio Unacwill participate in a panel giving their vision.
Economic uncertainty -in the short term- and politics -in the medium term- are the issues that spark conversation among businessmen. “You realized that next year we have to vote for president,” they recall, implying that it is difficult to imagine the electoral scenario.
This morning the message of Serge Massa -Since he could not attend because he was in the United States. And the final touch of the Colloquium will be the participation of the president Alberto Fernandez.
Source: Ambito
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