Recently, the president of the Council of Ministers, Eduardo Aranasaid that this government has “been in charge of improving conditions and giving confidence, security and credibility to investments.” The former Minister of Economy and Finance Alfredo Thorne considered that Fiscal policy From this management “it has not been one of the best” and pointed out that changes in the management of Petroperú.
The Premier stressed that this government has promoted investments and trust.
If the president of the Council of Ministers has tried to insinuate that they have had an investment attraction policy, that has not been the case. We have been lucky with the port of Chancay and two or three more investments. I do not remember any project that this government has generated in the attraction of investments.
How does the fiscal policy of this management qualify?
It has not been the best we have had. There has been breach of the rules, and although the problem has long come, the worst fiscal policy has been seen in this government. This, instead of helping to achieve the objectives of low inflation, stability of the exchange rate, has complicated that work that the Central Reserve Bank has. When you have an expansive fiscal policy, what happens is that you have a high deficit, pressures on the interest rate and, therefore, you make the work of the BCR more difficult. What is needed is to lower poverty levels, which mining informality is reduced, and that is something that corresponds to the Executive, but its policy to address those problems has not been one of the best.
The constant support to Petroperú complicates the fiscal policy of the Executive?
It complicates a lot. There are ratingers that are even taking the full debt of the oil company, as if it were the State and that automatically means almost four to five percentage points that are added from government debt, which puts us in a complicated situation and that brings us closer to a reduction in debt rating. This qualification has an impact on the interest rates offered outside. This also has a consequence of the company’s financial management.
What to do with the state company?
I would not want to give it a solution, because I don’t think there is only one. What I think should be done is to divide the concept of state -owned company and government business. Petroperú must be managed based on the interests of the State, not of the Executive. That is, it should have an independent, meritocratic corporate government, with people who are really there for long periods, as if it were a private company. A president needs with a professionalized directory that drives with the greatest discipline that could be established. That means not over -indebted, but try to make the refinery of efficient Talara, just like the Norperuano pipeline. This is the worst government in terms of the management of Petroperú assets because it has simply ignored this discipline that a state company that is financed with the resources of us should have.
On the other hand, the Premier has pointed out that not all growth is for monetary policy, how much has this policy contributed?
All studies show that macroeconomic stability has been the most important element for the years of economic growth, and that has to do with monetary and prosecutor policy. This stability is related to prices, that there are no devaluations or inflation.
Is then the work of this policy?
What monetary policy deals with is to achieve price stability, that is, low inflation. The fact of having a stable exchange rate, that international reserves accumulate, is an achievement of the Central Reserve Bank.
