Santiago Roca: “Employment generation must be made more equitable”

The MEF incorporated vaccination as part of fiscal policy. Is it government success?

In a country where economic means are not equal, the State has to guarantee access to the vaccine and, through it, to life, employment, work and well-being. The State has a responsibility towards life in a country where shortages are very great and if it is left to the free access of the people’s capacity, it would mean the death of thousands of citizens.

Peru grew 13% in 2021 and for this year it is estimated that it would grow between 3.5% and 4%. And this has to do with vaccination and the recovery of economic activities…

There is good management of vaccination and health. It is an achievement of the treasury, to preserve health and life and with it recovery. This will make it possible to reincorporate people into economic activity and the revival of activities that collapsed as a result of the pandemic. The omicron and the new variants that appear are a constant danger, but apparently they have a lower caliber in loss of life than at the beginning, that is why it looks favorable for the growth of the country and to generate herd immunity that will allow greater recovery and that people find the new activities in which it is necessary to work because what there will be in the future is the reinvention of jobs. One of the results of the pandemic is the structural transformation of economic activities. Young people have to be trained and educated in the digital industry, in inventing or innovating within the digital revolution.

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What reading do you have of the interviews with President Pedro Castillo? Did it give adequate signals to propel investment?

Without investment there is no work and without work there is no income. It is essential for the growth of a country, and the Government must go in that direction. You must be clear in giving clear signals. Obviously, the rules of the game must ensure that this generation of employment, as a result of the investment, is more equitable.

Why did not it happen?

Because labor rules are relaxed and changed to favor capital and not labor, then labor rights are removed, for example in the agricultural sector. These rules of the game must be restructured, promoting investment, but seeking that the product of the investment, which is work, and the goods and services that are produced with that investment, generate improvements and progress for those who contribute capital, work, land, and other production factors. But if the rules only favor one person and not the others, the problem that Peru has had is generated, it wants to be competitive with indecent wages, with not decent work, when the ideal is to invest, grow with the progress of all those who contribute to the production process.

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In the interview, Pedro Castillo pointed out that he was not trained to be president. What reading do you have?

There have been many presidents in the history of the world who had little preparation for the position; however, they know how to surround themselves with people with the best knowledge possible. If the best people go to the State to create public policies and work for the common good of citizens, countries prosper. In the 1990s, when I participated in the elections with Fujimori, President Alberto Fujimori he was not educated to be president. I remember that United Nations He proposed a program to educate the president and in a month and a half they tried to educate him before he took office. For this reason, a prepared president is not necessarily required, but common sense, a well-placed heart and surrounding oneself with the best people to lead are required. In addition, have an open mind, know how to listen and distinguish the interests of one and the other. Listening to the interview on CNN, the impression he gives is that not only was he not prepared to govern, but that he has to understand the interests of the people and listen a little more to those interests because the ambitions are there. That is a defect of the Government so far in his term.

In addition to all this, something important, the presidents, the authorities have to enter with short nails, because corruption that brings poverty and problems cannot be tolerated. In that sense, how to support honesty in the Government?

That’s unfortunate. When we won the election in 1990, one cannot imagine, but hundreds of people came and all wanted to collaborate, and it seems that the same thing happened to President Castillo. He didn’t realize, he couldn’t handle that environment, that avalanche of people desperate to achieve something, who have their own goals. Those who are trained in politics must enter to achieve the common good of all citizens. But many enter with the aim of making a profit, of becoming millionaires, with personal goals. So what you mention is very important. The most important thing is ethics, morality, being concerned about the common good and having the ability to distinguish people’s interests.