The knowledge industry It is one of the main engines of the global economy today. It is a key sector that can bring a large amount of foreign currency from exports to Argentina and that in fact reached record levels in 2022. However, there are warning lights in the sector.
Last year, Argentina exported US$7,834 million, which represented an increase compared to 2021 of almost 20%. Although the data seems positive, it is not so much. In the same period, wages in the sector grew 120% and the dollar became 70% more expensive. The result is that the cost of producing in the country becomes more expensive. And then, the growth of the sector is due more to price than to greater production.
The opportunity for Argentina is immense. It has the talent and much of the infrastructure needed to make the knowledge industry a dollar-generating boom. But Macroeconomic and legislative problems are causing a flight of professions and companies to Uruguay, where they are received not only with open arms, but also with tax benefits.
“Uruguay directly offers Argentine businessmen to establish themselves. There is not only a flight of the freelancer, who escapes Argentine legislation, there is also a strategy of a country that saw an opportunity for growth in the knowledge economy. Argentina is not taking advantage of it,” holds Louis Galeazzi, Executive Director of Argencon.
In fact, the entity calculates that Argentina loses an additional US$2,000 million in exports due to the brain drain to Uruguay. The biggest leak is at the senior and semi-senior level of programmers, who currently earn no less than $2,000.
“In Argentina there is a brain drain to countries where the economy is more stable. Uruguay reaps that flight with very significant growth. This growth is based in part on imported resources and the main supplier of these resources is Argentina. Argentina today does not retain the value it produces”, says Galeazzi.
In this regard, he considers that “Argentina must have the best generation of talent in the region, but the macroeconomic framework is not the best.” Beyond the situation, he believes that work should be done on current legislation promoting the knowledge industry.
“The Uruguayan government has official programs to attract talent from abroad, to attract companies and knowledge. It has a consistent strategy for more than a decade. And its main source is Argentine companies, which are invited to settle. It is not just the individual flight of the freelance who works and escapes Argentine legislation”, added the manager.
One of the aspects that Galeazzi criticizes is the launch of the tech monotribute, which he considers that “it creates a very large distortion in the labor market” and “weakens the creation of Argentine companies”. The regime seeks to capture the dollars that independent programmers collect from abroad and do not declare. “It exists because there is an exchange gap,” explains the executive.
Source: Ambito
