President of SNI proposes microcredits of S/2,000 for entrepreneurs

The president of the National Society of Industries (SNI), Jesus Salazar Nishi, argued that the poor performance of the economy during the first half of the year is worrisome. Although there is still no final number, recently, the Minister of Economy, Alex Contrerasestimated that growth for the third and fourth quarters of the year would close at 1.2 or 1.3%.

Salazar noted that, at the industry level, performance was also poor. They had 8 consecutive months of negative growth rates. In May, for example, it was reported that non-primary manufacturing had suffered an average monthly decline of 4.5%.

For this reason, the executive pointed out that the government still has space to generate immediate actions that stimulate the economy.

In the first place, he cited the works that are paralyzed, which add up to 2,000 throughout the country, whose budget is S/24,000 million. Activating this public spending would move the economy. Salazar also pointed out a second option, which is the injection of working capital for micro-entrepreneurs. The executive proposes that the government grant very small credits to this sector, which is mostly informal through DNI accounts at the Banco de la Nación. With this, production could be reactivated. “You could give 1,000 or 2,000 soles and that can be a productive investment,” he said.

The president of the SNI He was in Arequipa to set up a public-private table with the Regional Government of Arequipa, in order to promote works in which businessmen can invest. According to Salazar, Lima concentrates 60% of manufacturing GDP and Arequipa, barely 4.5%. It is a gap that can be bridged.

He stated that the concern of the industrial sector is to reduce this gap because studies show that the countries that have the greatest potential and development of their manufacturing have a better human development index.

As to ArequipaHe said that he has great challenges. For example, you can take advantage of the fact that the mining sector is very strong, so other services such as suppliers could be promoted or software development could be promoted. Otherwise, he argued that you can give a value to the mineral that is extracted and stop exporting everything.

In this case, it should be taken advantage of the fact that, according to figures from the INEI, 44% of the population has higher education. “We have to see what we do with those capabilities,” Salazar said.