He plebiscite against social security reform that drives the PIT-CNT could lead to Uruguay lose the investor grade recovered in 2013, as explained by the director of the Center for Studies of Economic and Social Reality (Ceres), Ignacio Munyo. “It is a big red light, a gigantic risk,” warned the economist.
Since the PIT-CNT confirmed the completion of the signature meeting campaign to try to carry out a plebiscite together with the next presidential elections, which will seek to introduce a Constitutional reform in terms of social security that eliminates the modifications made by this year’s reform of the pension system; Voices from all sectors expressed concern regarding the unviability of this proposal.
The alarm is such that even from the Broad Front, historic support of the union center, they avoided speaking out as a left-wing coalition – giving freedom of action to the different sectors; and even some important leaders such as the mayor of cannelloni and presidential candidate, Yamandu Orsi, They publicly expressed their opposition.
The director of Ceres, Ignacio Munyo, expressed himself in this regard in an interview with Radio Carve, and pointed out that, if the constitutional reform promoted by the PIT-CNT is approved through the popular consultation, it will condition the entire management of the next government — regardless of the political sign it is—and will represent a setback of the entire development agenda from the country.
“It would be taking a turn, slapping backwards that generates cost overruns gigantic everywhere, destruction of legal security, loss of investment grade and worsening financing conditions,” said the economist.
Regarding these last two points, he recalled that the last two times that Uruguay The credit rating improved by international agencies was “hand in hand with improvements in the retirement system”. “In ’97 they gave us the investment grade for the first time, after the reform of ’96, we lost it with the 2002 crisis, we recovered it ten years later, in 2013, and only ten years later we rose one step from the minimum with the latest retirement reform this year,” Munyo listed.
Likewise, the director of Ceres pointed out that “there are multiple reasons, from every point of view, why this is a big problem, even from implementation”. For the economist, it is about going back to the year ’95 in many aspects, undoing everything that was advanced in the middle, even in terms of improving income distribution. He also pointed out that they are seeking to implement a retirement age of 60 years, as was in the Constitution of 1904when life expectancy in Uruguay He was 51 years old.
“It’s crazy, I hope the Uruguay do not allow it because it would be a very big setback in the entire path of development that we have ahead of us, which is slow but well oriented and we must press the accelerator, not give a deep reverse “what this reform that the PIT-CNT proposes and that is on the table implies,” Munyo considered.
The Uruguayan “platita plan”
Asked if he considers that the PIT-CNT manages to reach the 270,000 signatures needed so that, on October 27, the plebiscite ballot is included in the electoral offer, Munyo considered the positive result of the first stage in the initiative of the union center to be likely.
For the economist, on the one hand, the mobilization capacity The central government is large enough to achieve these adhesion figures, although later it remains to be seen if they actually achieve constitutional reform in the popular consultation.
But, on the other hand, he also pointed out that what is promoted can be very attractive for a large majority of the population, as it implies the increase in retirement benefits for many. “He increases all pensions at the expense of a payment that destroys the Uruguayan State,” acknowledged the director of Ceres, and added: “I say that he is a Uruguayan ‘platita plan’as was said so much in Argentina in this days”.
Source: Ambito
