translated from Spanish: Minister Fontaine threw in the towel with the “best times” and the opposition counters that the government is “failing” in the economic sphere

Economy Minister Juan Andrés Fontaine referred this morning to the economic expectations that people have with the government of Sebastián Piñera, specifically, with the promise of “best times” the slogan campaign ingess of the current administration.
In an interview with the Channel 13 Central Bureau program, the Secretary of State said that “better times may have been understood as even better.”
“I share that people expect more from this government. The results do not leave me satisfied, but we are working to solve the problems and we are working on increasing investment and productivity,” Fontaine added.
In the same vein, the holder of Economía’s portfolio said that this Monday they would announce new measures for economic acceleration for entrepreneurship.
Fontaine said that on the side of his portfolio there are “something else” of 25 measures, 15 of which are regulatory, or management, that do not require a change of law, while the rest correspond to legal initiatives, some that are already in Congress.
The secretary of state stated that these are initiatives that go in line with simplifying procedures (“making the life of the entrepreneur easier”). He mentioned advanced electronic signature, a mechanism that, he recalled, was born in the first government of Sebastián Piñera, and that is “tranted” still in Congress.
Difficult times
President Sebastián Piñera addressed the same issue and referred to the financial situation in the country. He said that compared to Michelle Bachelet’s second term, in terms of growth, job creation and investment, there are improvements because “the great economic commitments we are fulfilling.”
The Mandatario was optimistic that Pulso de La Tercera said that “in Chile we have a healthy economy, facing difficult times. And difficult times by internal and external factors. Externally, the world economy has weakened enormously, the trade war between the United States and China, far from subsiding, tends to worsen.”
Piñera stated that there is “a long drought that is affecting us more and more every day; the floods in the north were a very hard blow to mining production, as was the Chuquicamata strike, and the delay and contradiction in relation to tax modernization has created uncertainty and mistrust. But in the midst of these difficult times we have a healthy and solid economy.”
Opposition questions diagnosis of “healthy economy”
The President’s words came to the ears of the opposition. According to Emol, the president of the PPD and former chancellor, Heraldo Muñoz, noted that “we actually have a healthy economy as a result of three decades of responsible macroeconomic management. But the President is failing in what was supposed to be his stronger side: generating a thriving economy of the ‘better times’.”
“He now stresses the key importance of external factors, but in the past government he denied its existence. It is now called for prayer that the world economy does not threaten the direction of the national economy,” he added.
In addition Muñoz noted that “people perceive that we are wrong (…). What more evidence than people is wrong than the drop in average income, as polls indicate. Real decline even bigger than in the 2009 recession.”
In his words was the d.C. President, Fuad Chahen, who asked Piñera to “leave the complacency behind.
“It seems that it does not see the reality that Chileans are seeing, where consumer confidence ratings fall, of entrepreneurs falling, where not only unemployment increases dramatically, but the economy is absolutely stagnant,” he said.
Finally, one also manifested that he is not at his best with the Executive. The senator and president of the PS, Alvaro Elizalde, who stated that “the best times did not come and economic growth is far from what is compromised by Sebastián Piñera in the presidential campaign”.
“This has had an impact on employment and creates uncertainty in many Chilean families, so it is essential that we open a space for debate, conversation, between all political sectors to generate conditions for growth and, above all, a inclusive development,” he added.
“We believe that the Government, instead of insulting the opposition, should promote this dialogue because Chileans are demanding that we certainly create the conditions for the country to improve the quality of all,” he concluded.
 

Original source in Spanish