ESAI Business School, the Business School of the Universidad Espiritu Santo (UEES) organized an important conference about the “2019 Economic Outlook.”, This Monday, November 19, at the UEES Convention Center. “This is a moment of great importance in the life of the country, and in which the economy has to be above any political consideration,” he said. Alberto Dahik (Director of ESAI) during his intervention as moderator of the event.
The debate included the participation of two notable government spokespersons: Richard Martinez (Minister of Economy and Finance) and Eduardo Jurado (Secretary General of the Presidency); and a renowned analyst and commentator on economic and political issues: Walter Spurrier.
The topics discussed were: the economic vision for the future, the budget proforma, and competitiveness. On his part, Eduardo Jurado expressed that: “The dialogue must be focused beyond the fiscal box, it has to be related to the variables that must be worked on for the economy to grow, and especially in relation to consumption and private investment”. For his part, Richard Martinez, emphasized that the current government has made efforts to move away from the XXI century socialism model, “The previous economic model was completely unsustainable, and in this transition we must move towards a model more open to the world, we must ensure that for future generations, the state can guarantee education, health, national security, defense, innovation, among others”. In addition, exports and foreign investment are key, “We are on the same page of entrepreneurs, we must make life easier for them so that they can generate more trade”.
Meanwhile, Walter Spurrier, showed concern about the budget proforma, due to the fact that in order to meet the fiscal needs this year, $ 9,000 million of credit will be needed and in 2020 it will be $ 10,000 million. He also said that if we do not begin to see a way out of the crisis in a short period of time, and if the appropriate measures are not taken, there will be discouragement and there will be no private investment, “... Who is going to invest, if he thinks that when his new investment is ready, the market will not have grown (...) In this sense, it seems to me that what is being proposed in the fiscal part, and the vision of where the economy is heading in 4 years and from then on, falls short of our expectations”.
Finally, Econ. Alberto Dahik concluded the economic debate with a reflection: “It is necessary for the Ecuadorian society to clearly tell the government that we cannot get out of this without a political cost, we cannot get out of this without some pain, and if this cannot be assumed, what happened to Argentina will happen to us, because it was in that dualism, the third coming, the fourth position, the fifth star, the eighth satellite, and it turns out that the economy overwhelmed it. (...) So, this conceptual clarity that we have seen that there is an idea of what has to be done, has to be counteracted, in my opinion, with quick facts”, he expressed.
He also explained that UEES will continue to be open to dialogue and create spaces for Ecuadorian society to discuss issues of great importance.
