MEXICO (El Financiero) – Business leaders considered that the plan of the president of Mexico is not the one required by companies and asked the president to support businesses so they can keep jobs and wages in the face of the impact of the health contingency.
Excluded from the plan announced by the president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the private sector expressed the urgent need to support those who employ in the country and thus seek to achieve social welfare.
Business leaders said they would do what they could to try to minimize the impact of the economic crisis, reduce job losses, and the disappearance of companies.
“President López Obrador’s report is not what employers expected, what they need. The consequences could be serious,” Francisco Cervantes, president of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers of Mexico (Concamin), wrote on his Twitter account.
“If the government supports the companies, it will be supporting the families,” said Gustavo De Hoyos, president of the Mexican Employers’ Confederation (Coparmex).
“President, do not turn your back on those who give life and employment to Mexico,” he said in a video broadcast on social networks, in which he explained that it is through employment that welfare is achieved and if the government supports businesses, it will be encouraging families to keep their jobs and thus their income, so they do not need social programs.
Sunday’s message left out some relevant measures to face the economic crisis of COVID-19, said De Hoyos, and stressed that the president must work for all Mexicans without distinction of ideologies.
“Assume the character of a head of state which places the nation’s highest interests above his political project,” he added.
“With nothing substantive and with “generalities and rhetoric,” this is how AMLO’s announced plan was described by the president of the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry (Canacintra), Enoch Castellanos.
“A disappointment,” he said, referring to the fact that he left out support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, thus putting millions of jobs at risk. “Although the president does not want to agree, we at Canacintra remain determined to maintain jobs, wages and reactivate the economy,” he said on his Twitter account.
The Business Coordinating Council (BCC) believes that the economic proposal announced by the president is incomplete, given the scale of the crisis he is facing.
The organization regretted that its proposals had not been considered, since with them, what they seek is to have a positive impact on public policies for the benefit of the country, and pointed out that good judgment is essential in difficult times.
“The Covid-19 crisis forces us to unite once again. It is time for proposals and agreements,” he said.
For Alberto Ramos, chief economist for Latin America at Goldman Sachs, the announced plan is disappointing in size and scope. “The authorities seem to be underestimating the economic impact of the pandemic and the need for a more profound reorientation in fiscal policy.
Analysts at “Ve por Más” noted that the government’s response is limited to moving forward with planned infrastructure works and did not include a coordinated package of measures to stimulate the economy in the face of the health emergency, nor did it include requests from the private sector in fiscal matters.
2 million jobs to be created in 9 months
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador offered a package of measures to revive the economy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, including the creation of 2 million jobs in 9 months, reduce the tax burden of Pemex by 65 billion pesos and return VAT to taxpayers “promptly”.
In a message offered from the National Palace, the president maintained its major infrastructure projects such as the airport of Santa Lucia, the refinery of Dos Bocas and the Mayan Train, and assured that the list of beneficiaries of social programs would reach 22 million. He indicated that 2.1 million personal loans would be granted for housing and small family businesses in the formal and informal sectors.
“This is very important. We are going to create in nine months 2 million new jobs. The economic recovery will soon begin by increasing public investment aimed at creating jobs and providing credit to small family businesses and to those who seek life as they can daily. We are not going to leave them in the lurch,” AMLO said.
He considered that, despite the adverse economic scenario, “the impossible” is being done to maintain the commitment not to increase the public debt, since, to finance the reactivation plan, the savings of the Income Stabilization Fund will be used.
He said that next week the investment plan in the energy sector would be announced, with an expected amount of 339 billion pesos.
The Yucatan Times
Newsroom
