Economist and former national deputy Luciano Laspina stated that there is a growing questioning of institutions worldwide and warned that this phenomenon also impacts Argentina.
«There is a sort of erosion of the reputation of everything established,» he noted. In this scenario, he called for the need to strengthen political dialogue and recover basic consensuses. As an example, he mentioned the institutional stability of Uruguay.
«There is an established code between presidents and former presidents of different parties: when the chips are down for Uruguay, they talk and reach agreements,» he explained.
Laspina also referred to the cross-currents between President Javier Milei and various business sectors. In this sense, he emphasized that the role of study centers like CIPPEC is «to think about Argentina in the next ten or twenty years,» far from the urgency of the political situation.
Regarding the labor reform promoted by the government, Laspina considered it a necessary measure, although he clarified that it is not enough in itself to generate employment.
«The labor reform does not create jobs; it is growth that creates jobs. What it generates is the framework for that employment to be formal,» he explained.
The economist stressed that the country has been dragging along for more than a decade without sustained growth in formal employment.
«The economy has not been growing for fifteen years and, obviously, neither have formal jobs,» he indicated, while pointing out that technological changes and new forms of work force labor legislation to be updated.
In the political sphere, Laspina described an international process of deterioration of public trust in traditional institutions such as parliaments, universities, or political parties.
«There is a level of questioning of institutions at a global level,» he affirmed when analyzing the current political climate and its effects on democracies and the investment climate.
The new executive director of the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC) explained that the entity's new challenge will be to think about long-term public policies for a country undergoing profound economic transformations.
Although he avoided direct confrontation with the Casa Rosada, he warned that the investment climate requires political stability and dialogue.
«An investment climate requires a relatively balanced political system. It also weakens the investment climate,» he stated.
To this is added the weight of China in the world industry and the reconfiguration of international trade.
«A stabilization with hard fiscal and monetary policy, economic opening, the emergence of artificial intelligence, and the industrial competition from China are all converging,» he described.
«All that is a very complex combo for our industry,» he warned. In this framework, he pointed out that one of the major pending debates is how to carry out the productive transition without causing excessive social costs.
«We have to discuss what Argentina's development model will be and how we are going to create jobs in the coming years,» he maintained.
The economist also described the recent evolution of economic activity.
«When tariffs are raised and there is a scarcity of goods, prices go up,» he explained.
An economic change with strong tensions
When analyzing the current economic model, Laspina pointed out that the country is simultaneously going through a macroeconomic stabilization, an opening to trade, and global technological changes.
«Argentina is facing a brutal productive reconversion after decades of a closed economy, in an international context marked by geopolitical and technological changes,» he stated in dialogue with Splendid AM 990.
In his view, this dynamic generates tensions in democracies and complicates the investment climate.
«That weakens democracies and generates tensions. It also weakens the investment climate,» he stressed.
According to him, the economy grows on average, but with strong differences between sectors.
«The winning sectors —energy, mining, and banks— have grown around 18% since the beginning of the government, while sectors like construction, industry, and commerce, which generate more employment, have fallen by about 7%,» he detailed.
For Laspina, this disparity explains the distance between positive macroeconomic data and social sentiment.
«That is the difference between the statistics and what society feels,» he pointed out.
Finally, the head of CIPPEC stated that Argentina's main challenge is to consolidate the current reforms within a broader and more sustained over time development strategy.
«The great challenge is that the stones that are being laid today —fiscal balance, structural reforms, and opening— allow for building a larger building later with other policies,» he concluded.
