Óscar Caipo Ricci: “In the first six months of government, the confidence required to invest was not generated”

What is your reaction to the oil spill in the Ventanilla Sea?

This ecological disaster and the damage it causes to the environment and the population is unfortunate. The Repsol company must mitigate and remedy the impact generated quickly. Similarly, it is important that the authorities carry out an immediate investigation to determine the causes and responsibilities. These types of events should not happen in the country.

Are mitigation efforts by the company and the government adequate?

These tasks must be supervised and supervised by the corresponding entities and by technically trained personnel. We hope that it will be developed responsibly, transparently and with the highest standards that care for our environment deserves. From Confiep we call on public and private companies to reinforce their protocols for prevention and response to accidents of this nature.

On the other hand, do the good economic figures of last year give you peace of mind?

The 2021 growth figures have three components. The first, to highlight the good work with vaccination. Having continued with this process caused activities to be reactivated and normalized and with this a rebound was achieved to recover what was lost in 2020. Added to this is a growing world that emerged before Peru from the waves of COVID -19, and due to the high demand for the products we export, be they minerals or agricultural products, a record of exports and a positive trade balance were generated. These are figures, without a doubt, positive, which must be analyzed with great objectivity. Above all, it is a rebound, but we must see very carefully that employment has not yet fully recovered, informality has risen, employment has become precarious. There is 25% more underemployment, and the median income is still below pre-pandemic levels. There is a challenge for this year 2022.

:

How to give sustainability to the country’s economy and recover employment?

It is important to build trust. In the first six months of government, the confidence required by the private sector to continue investing was not generated. There are projections of Support and Macroconsult that indicate that investment, with this level of distrust, would tend to decrease between 10% and 14%, which would be very harsh because it implies less job creation.

How to recover that trust that they demand?

They have to appoint people with capacity and without questioning their suitability in key positions to manage the state apparatus and meet the demands of the population. A good example is what happened in the health sector; the minister Hernando Cevallos, who has experience, realized his high responsibility in the midst of the pandemic and kept the team and managed to scale the vaccination to the levels that allowed him to reach the goal. Appointments are very important, as is fighting corruption.

What to do against it?

It is very important that the president leads by example. You must define and clarify the questions and allow the Comptroller and the Prosecutor’s Office do your job to clarify the facts and correct yourself. That he realizes that he has to govern from the Palace, with formal meetings, reporting the agenda and that there is no doubt that the Government and the president conduct themselves with integrity and transparency. And also that he provide interviews so that the population finds out what he thinks and what he does to lead the country’s destinies. Everything begins by generating trust, and unfortunately this Government, in six months, has not yet generated it.

:

The Prosecutor’s Office filed the complaints of alleged electoral fraud. The attitude of repeatedly not acknowledging who won the election discouraged investments, affected the dollar and harmed the country’s economy…

The electoral process was highly polarized. The exchange rate began to rise before the result because high-risk candidates were already emerging and Mr. Pedro Castillo could win. This created a lot of uncertainty. From Confiep, we had a principled, neutral attitude in the electoral process in the first and second rounds. The result was very close and for 40 thousand votes Mrs. Keiko Fujimori questioned the results for a while until they were finally recognized and that undoubtedly caused some uncertainty, but we have to recognize that the main uncertainty comes from some messages given in the campaign and, after assuming the presidency, the government of the Mr. Castillo has not yet been able to elucidate. We have had a rather erratic government, with questionable appointments, with a lack of coherence in the cabinet.

Vacancy is on the agenda of the right and the extreme right, and this generates instability…

We come from five years, prior to the Government, of political instability, with four presidents, and all these changes have an impact. Since the new period began, the relationship between the Government and Congress has not been the best. At the beginning there were cross threats from both sides due to possible vacancies or trust issues, and this is not healthy because we need to focus from the Executive and the Legislative on addressing the priority needs of the population.

Do you think it is appropriate that from the business side initiatives such as the vacancy chat have been developed that collide with the constitutional by proposing recalls, trying to bring down the Government, when what is needed is tranquility to attack hunger, misery, and grow to improve the living conditions of Peruvians?

We need to defend the institutionality. From Confiep we did not promote or have any of these chats. In another guild there was this situation that was unmarked and demarcated. From an institutional point of view, we businessmen want the country to move forward, especially at such a critical moment. And what we must do is focus on that, which is why it is very important that President Castillo correct the course to achieve it and build trust. We have to recognize that there has been a lot of fear, a lot of fear and this is an enemy when it comes to making good decisions.

:

Money out of the country was reported due to fear of the new government. Did you as an entrepreneur take your money out of the country? And what should be done so that these capitals return to invest in Peru?

The fear generated by this government at the beginning meant that US$15 billion of the savings held by people and investors have left, and there has been a significant flight of capital. A decree is not required for the capital to return. The only thing that we businessmen ask for is that there be the rule of law, legal certainty, transparency, so that we can have the necessary predictability to make long-term investment decisions and with it begin to move the economy and recover employment that must be the true measure of success of any Government, that of recovering formal employment.