The Senator Aydee Lizarazo It is the token with which the Mira Party hopes to reach the Presidency of the Republic. The candidate, who is part of the Team for Colombia Coalition, focuses her proposal on Colombian agriculture, as well as on strengthening micro-entrepreneurs, with the aim of promoting employment from traditional sectors, and also giving more participation to women and Young.
(Read: Petro and Galán, the most favored candidates for the presidency).
How do you perceive the economy for 2022?
In recent months we have seen a complete reactivation, with the full support of the National Government and its policies, such as the Paef, in order to maintain the generation of employment and also of the business fabric, but we cannot ignore that there are a series of factors that pose great challenges to us, such as inflation, which today is a worldwide phenomenon. We must think about policies that allow the situation to be more bearable while the world stabilizes. That is why we have to go ahead with support for the Colombian business community, providing them with guarantees to access payroll subsidieswith the employment of young people and women, and this also allows protecting the Colombian industry.
But it is not only necessary to produce in the big cities, in the Colombian countryside there is a great possibility. With so many imports that we depend on such as fertilizers, fertilizers and fungicides, the prices of our agricultural products. We have to focus a policy of support towards the Colombian countryside, so that the peasants can produce, and we must grant them more credits through the Banco Agrario. There we can speak of full reactivation.
How would you give more tools to agriculture?
We need to reactivate our countryside, diversify and industrialize, many times we concentrate on the production of a certain agricultural product because it is at the top in preferences and prices, but then we have a low price for a super production. At this time, we need to bring a state presence to the Colombian countryside, with investment in infrastructure, in tertiary roads. I am a woman from the region and I know the needs of the peasants.
(What’s more: ‘We propose an impoconsumption with a single rate of 8%’: candidate Alex Char).
Costs also rise when marketing is complicated because we don’t have roads in good condition and we can also generate employment opportunities through those roads. Infrastructure works. Our proposal will generate employment with the construction of tertiary roads taking advantage of the labor of residents in rural areas, and also water and sanitation projects. Education in the countryside must be strengthened, so that women and young people can undertake new projects. The field must be made attractive for young people, so that they have a life expectancy around it and we can have that transformation.
Aydee Lizarazo
Aydee Lizarazo
What other sectors would be a focus to generate jobs?
A part is in the countryside and in the populated centers. during the pandemic close to 500,000 micro-businesses closed and about 400,000 medium and large. Those medium and large businesses received support from the national government, through different lines, such as the Paef, but for those small businesses, due to their size, they did not have the same ease of accessing income, because they were not as organized, but they are small commercial businesses headed by women or family groups.
About 97% of economic activity is carried out by small businesses, they did not receive support during the pandemic. Many did not reopen or went virtual, and have their furniture at home or in a warehouse. We will have a flagship program of reopening financial support for small businesses. The idea is to give them financial support of up to 10 minimum wages, so that they can return to generate income and jobs. Many are restaurants, bakeries, hairdressers and stationery stores. It is an opportunity to reactivate local economies. Another proposal is in small municipalities where there are no large industries to give tax incentives so that large entrepreneurs establish new companies and create jobs.
We will have a program for the reopening of small businesses, with support of up to 10 minimum wages.”
How do you see the possibility of another tax reform?
We have to be very responsible and grounded about the moment in which we are living. The last tax reform was approved about 7 or 8 months ago. With that short time we have not been able to measure its effectiveness. We have to wait for this fiscal year to end and then we can see if it is enough. If that possibility arises, I am convinced that there is a red line, from the Mira party, and from the condition that I represent today that we will not touch the pockets of the most vulnerable or the middle class.
(Keep reading: ‘Tax is to take money from the productive sector’: Rodolfo Hernández).
we have to enter strengthen the Dian, so that we can counteract this issue of evasion and avoidance. And I also propose the realization of a fourth day without VAT, but focused on helping people from the countryside and those municipalities.
What initiatives could be promoted to help mitigate inflation?
The monetary politics It is headed by the Banco de la República, which has mechanisms that it uses to counteract inflation, such as the interest rate and its increase, a measure that was recently adopted. We have to wait for these effects, and we hope that it will help counteract, but this is a global phenomenon, a dollar by almost $4,000 raises imports and that obviously affects the family basket. We must understand that this is part of an international dynamic, but that is why we must strengthen ourselves in our internal production to make a counterweight.
LAURA LUCIA BECERRA
