In August of this year, Alejandro Gaviria said goodbye to the rectory of the Universidad de los Andes to launch himself into the presidential arena. His proposals include, among other issues, a review of the pension system, generating 2 million jobs focused on women and youth, and reviewing the exemptions for some sectors and the richest.
(‘Regulating drugs would eliminate illegal rents’).
What will be the main economic challenge in 2022?
The biggest challenge is job creation. We still have a million and a half unemployed and inactive compared to the figures from before the pandemic and I believe that we are far from recovering what we lost. I don’t like the triumphalism and complacency that we are going to have the highest growth in 100 years, because we also had the biggest drop and if we wanted to resume the growth that we would have if we had not had the pandemic, the economy would have to grow 8% a year incoming, which is not going to happen. I am also concerned about what is happening with the pandemic and the Omicrom threats, and what it may entail in terms of business closures and loss of trust. We must then insist on public health and economics.
What strategy do you propose to reduce the unemployment rate?
I think there are two types of policy: the first has to do with the reactivation of sectors that generate a lot of employment and I would like to place an emphasis on green growth issues as well. The proposal I have is the generation of 2 million jobs in two years, with a crash plan focused on young people and women, the idea is to give free training for work, with short and flexible courses focused on what companies they need and what the labor market is demanding.
(‘White smoke’ in the conclave of the Hope coalition).
People who cannot study because they have to search for their lives, because they have children and are heads of families, in the context of this program, we will provide a basic income that allows them to survive while they study.
The growth strategy as I conceive it is in economic development as a kind of self-discovery. Each region is looking for better ways to insert itself into the national and global economy, that is where the fundamental role of the State lies, to strengthen the productive apparatus, finding the obstacles, and the public goods that are needed, so that the stories of growth that is taking place in the regions can materialize. I believe that Colombia in the next decade is going to have to reinvent its economy, based on sustainable agriculture, ecotourism, the bio-economy and sustainable mining sectors.
One of your proposals is to create a universal citizen pension. What would the mechanism consist of?
When you look at the set of social policies in Colombia, perhaps where we have less progress in the last thirty years in the pension system. That has systematically excluded 80% of the population, it is a system that is focused on very few and in some way reinforces the privileges of the economy. It is a system where the returns of those who do not get to retire, because they do not meet the requirements of the number of weeks, are almost expropriated to pay high pensions. The system must include everyone. The projection in Colombia for old age does not include the majority of the population, there we propose a citizen pension, with a value close to $ 400,000 per month, for all adults over 65 who need it, and that would be financed with two sources The main ones: a 1% decrease in the exempt income of the richest 1% of the population, and an increase in the casual income tax. It would cover about 3 million people, and in these calculations, the fiscal cost is around $ 8 billion a year.
(What do the presidential candidates propose in infrastructure).
Is another tax reform required?
I think so, Colombia has unbalanced public finances. The candidate who says that Colombia does not need another tax reform is telling lies. This next reform should have two main characteristics, level the playing field for companies, since the effective tax rates are very different between sectors, that means eliminating all exemptions between privileged sectors, and in the income tax changes must be made in the income tax. tax of the people and especially of the richest, and reduce the levels of income exempt to the wealthiest and richest. The country should think about a permanent wealth tax, and at the same time, transparency in public spending is essential.
What other reforms does the state need?
A fundamental one is pension reform, which is where the greatest distortions and inequities are generated in the country, and another necessary issue is a reform of the police and justice.
What would your strategy be with oil?
Ending oil is not a good idea, that leads to a false debate. We would not contribute to our goal of decarbonization in any way. If we want to take our international commitments seriously, we should put an emphasis above all on stopping deforestation, particularly in the Amazon. And there are other priorities, such as the electrification of the transport network, the use of waste, and the circular economy. Of course, we must increase energy production from renewables, something that the Government has been timidly doing, and propose a transition towards that development.
LAURA LUCÍA BECERRA ELEJALDE
