The minister of Work and Social Security (MTSS), Pablo Mieresreferred again to the plebiscite against social security reform that pursues the PIT-CNT, and considered that such an initiative, if carried out, would lead to the collapse of the pension system Uruguay.
Last Thursday, the PIT-CNT resolved and approved the content of the ballot for the plebiscite that aims to reform the Constitution in pension matters and thus remove from circulation the reform law that Parliament approved at the end of April and whose first provisions have already been in force since August. The key points of the union’s proposal are: retirement age of 60 years, retirements tied to the national minimum wage and elimination of individual savings and Pension Savings Fund Administrators (AFAP).
With the news, Minister Mieres once again questioned the PIT-CNT’s line of action, and pointed out that “if it were to materialize, it would lead the country, and I say this with total responsibility, to collapse of the pension system gigantically increasing the already very high deficit of the system.”
His statements were given within the framework of the conference “Challenges for a Uruguay with Sustainable Development”organized by the Confederation of Business Chambers in the Expo Prado 2023which had its opening day yesterday.
“This reform that is proposed goes in the absolutely right direction.” opposite to the objectives that our country must assume, and that on the other hand the entire political system has recognized as necessary and essential,” said Mieres, and emphasized that the plebiscite of the union central, in addition, “would affect a substantial value that distinguishes Uruguay in the world and what is the legal certainty about rights of the citizens”, while “it would confiscate the savings of hundreds of thousands of Uruguayans that were collected and built year by year and month by month” with their work.
For this reason, the head of the MTSS insisted that the social security reform approved is “necessary” and that “builds a future of sustainability” of pension benefits for the coming years.
Arbeleche: “Our reforms have a common axis; freedom”
During the same conference in which Mieres participated, the Minister of Eeconomics and finance (MEF), Azucena Arbeleche, spoke about the reforms carried out by the government, under the motto “Take care of today by thinking about tomorrow.” The exhibition put freedom “at the center of all things”, and as an example he pointed out number portability and the repeal of financial inclusion, both aspects included in the Urgent Consideration Law (LUC).
The minister defended central aspects of the government’s management which, she said, “was able to confront adverse situations with solidity and strength, the global health crisis resulting from the Covid 19, the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and more recently the drought.
He acknowledged that in recent times prices have increased, but contextualized that in response the government implemented a series of measures that, he said, “improved the economic income of the population, in turn reducing the tax burden on basic products.”
On drought, which merited the declaration of agricultural emergency, Arbeleche quantified it as a loss of 200 million dollars for the country.
Greeting many leaders present in the room responsible for various areas of the government, the head of the MEF listed as “milestones of management” the increase in public investment, improvements in infrastructure and the increase in employment and real wages, as well as access to new markets for local products.
In line with what was recently expressed by his colleague, a member of the economic team, the president of the Central Bank Diego Labat, Arbeleche highlighted the importance of what he considered “the minor inflation of the last two decades.” He also noted the importance of having a new tax rule, something he defined as “simply taking care of Uruguayans’ money.”
Source: Ambito
