(EFE) – Improving international integration and competitiveness, generating jobs, undertaking microeconomic reforms or advancing the transformation of the tax system are some of the economic proposals of the main parties contesting the Uruguayan elections.
Just three days before the presidential elections, where a possible runoff is expected between the Frente Amplio Yamandú Orsi and Álvaro Delgado of the National Party and the parliamentarians who, according to the latest survey by the consulting firm Cifra, the Frente Amplio has a voting intention of 44%. , the National Party of 23% and the Colorado Party of 15%, the economic proposals went “under the radar” in the electoral campaign.
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Although there was a “more or less serious” discussion around the plebiscite on social security that is also being disputed, in economic matters you have to go to paper to find the majority of the proposals, according to economist José José in dialogue with EFE. Lycander.
Daiana Ferraro, a master’s degree in Economics, Law and Politics of regional integration, agrees with this. When asked specifically about foreign policy, she points out that it was almost “absent” during the campaign, where, except for expressions by candidates about the situation of Venezuela did not appear at the center of the debate.
Yes, he did so in the programs published by the left-wing coalition Frente Amplio (FA) and by the ruling National Party (PN), Colorado Party (PC), Cabildo Abierto (CA) and Independent Party (PI), where, he points out, there are shared readings of the Uruguayan position in a complex global context.
“On issues of multilateralism, cooperation for peace, stability and development, I do not notice major differences. Some, for example the FA, propose to be more active in this, while others rather talk about seeking solutions through international law,” he summarizes.
Regarding Mercosur, he assures that the PN talks about continuing in the position of the Government of Luis Lacalle Pou, of “sincerity” about the rigidity of a bloc that the president called “ballast” and proposes strengthening its external agenda, while the FA also proposes to modernize it and the PC does not mention the block in its program.
While she says she was surprised to see that the PN dedicated a section to China and ideas about “reinforcing the vision towards Asia” in the majority of the parties, for the teacher the world is currently so uncertain that, with an American ‘Super Tuesday’ Around the corner, everything can change suddenly and events must be monitored.
In any case, he considers that it will be “key” for Uruguay to try to “build integration” with its neighbors, governed by the far-right Javier Milei in Argentina and the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, in opposite directions.
“Borders remain borders and our trade is also linked to regional partners. We have to improve at that level and for that we will have to allocate time, patience and try to reach agreements, even if they are minimal,” he points out.
Likewise, he points out that the FA is committed to an “active” foreign policy but with more “prior consensus” than that related to the continuity of a Lacalle Pou Government that lacked “negotiating work” in that sense.
In economic matters, for Licandro it is “difficult” to take stock of proposals in which “concrete measures” are missing.
“There is a lot to do. We are a very inefficient economy and the fact that the country is very expensive is a reflection; We have many quite absurd regulations that generate inconveniences in different markets and a relatively high tax pressure that does not help either,” he says.
According to the expert, although the parties say that “we must grow more”, it is clear that “it is always better to be pretty, young and healthy than poor, ugly and sick”, but, he emphasizes, “that must be accompanied with some solidities ”, such as lower inflation.
“We have an inflation that is between 5 and 6%, which is the high part of the range (goal) and, except for the proposal of (Álvaro) Delgado (PN candidate) to take it to 3%, the others do not say anything,” criticizes those who point out that the FA was not clear, since it spoke of lowering it to 4% but with associated competitiveness costs.
In their programs, meanwhile, the FA, the PN and the PC agree on the need to promote investment and employment and improve the competitiveness of the economy, although the left places its emphasis on productive diversification while the center-right propose reducing positions and state costs.
Although the PC and the PN propose “microeconomic reforms” to improve the efficiency of a country that they recognize as “expensive”, absent in the case of the FA, it stands out in proposing incentives for cooperativism.
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