The CEO of the Techint Group, Paolo Rocca, analyzed the arrival of the new Javier Milei Government and revealed what he felt when he heard the economist’s first presidential speech.
The CEO of the Techint Group, Paolo Roccaanalyzed the new economic measures of the Government of Javier Milei and assured that Argentina is facing a “new structural change.” He did so during the Propymes forum organized annually by Techint. From the stage of the Buenos Aires Convention Center, together with the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francoshe asked “social containment”, because he assured that a period of “a lot of sacrifice” is coming, and demanded a labour reform. In addition, Rocca was very critical of the government of Alberto Fernández, and, before almost 1,000 industrialists, he asked the businessmen for “commitment.”
“Today we are facing a new structural change, a reset of Argentina, which will cover all sectors of the country,” Rocca said during the 22nd Propymes seminar, and was very critical of the previous government. “We come from an absolutely unsustainable situation. The distortions that have accumulated in recent years and particularly in the last one, in the institutional degradation of the country, distortion of economic variables, loss of monetary balances, inflation, short-term measures accumulated that distorted or repressing variables such as prices or interest rates,” said the leader of the holding company, which owns Tenaris, Ternium, Tecpetrol and other companies operating in engineering, construction, and the energy sector.
Rocca also analyzed the first presidential speech of Mileiminutes after the inauguration: “What I heard from Milei is an absolutely unsustainable situation in all these aspects, the structural aspects of the country, more cyclical related to the exchange and financial markets. I listened carefully and I want to say that I find all the aspects that the President mentions a vision that should be positive and favorable for the development of the private sector. Limit State intervention in all economic activities. The opening and liberation of the market and recovery of space for private initiative is a very important issue for the entire productive sector,” emphasized the president of the company, which employs 95,000 people around the world and invoices US$ 40,000 million annually.
Then, at the end of the seminar, Rocca spoke again and sent a new wink to Milei: “All the foundations of Milei’s speech are the foundations for a transformation of Argentina. Listening to the speech I agree with all the points, this coincidence is important. But the transition is going to be difficult.”
Rocca orders to Francs
From the stage, Rocca made several requests to Francos. On the one hand, social containment: “In this reset there is going to be a hard, difficult period. Recovering the consistency of the economic variables is going to require a lot of sacrifice, effort and a lot of capacity for social support.”
Although the president of Techint stressed that Argentina’s “reset” will imply “a path of development of the opportunities that the country has,” he also took the opportunity to ask Francos about cHow were they going to do with political sustainability and consensus building. “This reset and the future need a political and institutional consensus on the future. That is why the presence of Guillermo Francos today is very important. As Minister of the Interior he will have a difficult but very important task of social containment while the country resets its variables” , he claimed.
Francos’ response about how they are going to advance political sustainability was that the Government will be based on “consensus and agreement.” From the stage, the Minister of the Interior answered: “A lot of confrontation needs to be overcome. I don’t want to say crack. Through dialogue we will achieve political sustainability between the different actors. Everyone listens to the voice of the people and everyone was shocked by the election result. There is a vocation of the people to say enough is enough, so political sustainability is in the social agreement, that we are capable of building a new social pact, aware that a country grows if there is private effort and private capital, The work is on you.”
Rocca also made him a request to the businessmen in the room: “The popular mandate reflected an unsustainable fatigue. From the private sector it is our will commit ourselves so that the reset is successful”. He anticipated that at least the year 2024 will be marked by an “adjustment in operations” as a result of the “inevitability of adjustment” and the drop in demand: “What can we do as companies? Strengthen competitiveness. We are talking about opening of markets, reduction of state intervention. This exposes our companies. I anticipate a drop in demand, the honesty of relative prices will bring a reduction in the level of activity. “Competitiveness must be sharpened to complement exports and increase projection abroad.”
Claim for labor reform
On stage with Francos, Rocca called for labor reform. “We have to think about how to move forward at some point, to bring workers back to the formal sector, with a sustainable workload.” As in all seminars, after Rocca presents, there is room for questions from businessmen in the room. One of them demanded changes in social charges, as the Cambiemos government had done with Mauricio Macri. In any case, Francos answered that although it is something they aspire to do, he did not give details about the short term.
“You will see it in the coming days through regulations such as DNUs or bills. These are all the measures that were being studied to try to open Argentina. So that the private sector can make its contribution to this new stage. The obligation of you is to become rich. Generating wealth is what generates well-being and work,” said Francos.
Source: Ambito
