The former president of the National Association of Companies and Industries Herrera (ANEIH), Antonio Isa Conde affirmed that it is imperative to reduce inequality to guarantee sustainable growth and human development.
He assured that reducing inequality is not taking from the rich to give to the poor, but rather establishing a series of public policies that allow workers to increase the real salary, that is, the goods and services that they can acquire with their nominal salary.
Along with improving health, education, transportation, drinking water, electricity, etc. and reduce its cost, which are among the things that contribute to the increase in real wages.
“Reducing inequality through development policies is an imperative that cannot wait, hence the urgency of carrying out the structural reforms that make it possible,” he said.
Isa Conde gave these details when participating in the Colloquium and Meeting with the Press where she discussed the topic “Reducing inequality, a challenge, an opportunity”, together with the businessman and former president of ANEIH, Ernesto Vilarta as a panelist.
At the meeting, the president of ANEIH, Noel Ureña Ceballos, thanked the journalists and the media for their collaboration during his 2020-2022 administration and wished them a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
“Let’s not be blinded by growth and a bonanza that does not reach everyone, which is accompanied by a debt of 60% of GDP whose interest eats up a significant part of our budget,” emphasized Isa Conde, former president of ANEIH.
He expressed that fighting to transform this reality positively and reduce the inequality gap should be the main banner of struggle of the Herrerianos and their association, as an unavoidable commitment to themselves and the generations that will follow us.
The former government official in different periods, indicated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has calculated in a sample of 156 countries that if the participation of the poor and the middle class in total income increases, the economy grows. But if, on the contrary, the proportion of the richest increases, growth falls.
Isa Conde explained that in the Dominican case it has been shown that when economic growth increases by one percentage point, poverty is reduced by 2.78 points.
He added that even more important is that one percentage point less in the inequality rate causes a reduction in poverty of 5.19 percentage points, according to figures recently published by ECLAC and the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD).
According to experts, if the DR managed to increase the reduction in inequality by 50% compared to that observed in the last pre-pandemic year, general poverty could be reduced by 500,000 people, this would lead to an increase in consumption and therefore hence more production creating a virtuous circle of growth
Income in few hands is an injustice
Isa Conde deplored the fact that 1% of the country’s population receives 30% of the total income, while the top 10% concentrates 55%, leaving only 45% for the remaining 90% of the population.
Much worse, that the 50% of those with the lowest income only receive 17% of the total.
“You don’t have to be an economist to understand and interpret this data. Just common sense. We are not only facing an injustice, but also the clumsiness of those who design, direct and implement public policies”, he affirmed.
He explained that if the income of the poorest and the middle class increases, there is no doubt that the market will strengthen.
“Getting ready to do so is everyone’s responsibility, mainly the government and wealth-producing sectors. It is not a problem of altruism, but of social and individual convenience. If we allow the inequality gap to continue to widen, the political risk would be very high since social instability would grow alarmingly, seriously affecting our investment climate.” concluded.
