translated from Spanish: Former president of the Central Bank and his criticism of the economic management of La Moneda: “The government itself has become self-cornering”

A new critique of the Executive’s management arose from the world of economists. Now the turn was from the former president of the Central Bank, Rodrigo Vergara, who argued that “I am a little surprised by how the government itself has gone self-cornering” with the growth figures and also “probably underestimated” the impact of the war China-U.S. in the country’s economy.
Vergara again made public his critical view of the march of the country’s economy, as he did last week at a private meeting of the Centre for Public Studies (CEP), without access to the press, in which entrepreneurs and some advisers linked to the on the right, where the country’s “Economic and Political Moment” was discussed. It should be remembered that after his time at the Central Bank, Vergara was economic coordinator of The presidential campaign of Sebastián Piñera, and his name even sounded as potential Minister of Finance, a position that was eventually left to Felipe Larraín.
Growth figures
In an interview with Emol, Vergara noted that the Government has become complicated by THE GDP projections that have been constantly adjusted downwards.
As for the growth figures, the Government started with an estimate of 3.8% and in a recent interview President Sebastián Piñera spoke of 3%. However, the market has been more pessimistic and bets on even 2.5% as indicated by the August Consensus Forecast poll.
In this sense, the former head of the issuing institute recalled that “quite some time ago I have been saying that the economy is going to grow by around 2.5%, I remember that when I first said it I was labeled pessimistic. There are a number of elements, internal and external factors, and the truth is that on top of that, data about the year that made one think that the economy had little dynamism, that we were more likely to grow at 2.5%.”
But according to the economist and current senior researcher at the Center for Public Studies (CEP) “at this point it is not as relevant as much as we grow in the year, because this year is already played in many respects” and reaching a 2.5% growth implies “a significant acceleration in the second half of the year, then it wouldn’t be bad news.”
However, for the former president of the Central Bank, the key is not to keep these figures, because “the truth that this year we grow a little less or a little more, is not as relevant as the foundation sits for higher and sustained growth in the future , as a potential growth, that’s what’s really important.”

Original source in Spanish