Óscar Landerretche describes as “fetishist” proposal to create a Development Bank: “It is to spend institutional political energy”

The economist and former president of the board of directors of Codelco, Óscar Landerretche addressed what will be the government of President Gabriel Boric. In this regard, he said that the program presented by the ruling coalition Approve Dignity “is not possible to be fully implemented.”
In conversation with El Mostrador in La Clave, Landerretche pointed out that “anyone who more or less studies the topics and who knows a little bit of arithmetic,” knows that the program “is not possible to be implemented in its entirety and there are several reasons, some that were known before.”
“We have a problem with how the state works,” the economist said, adding that the current administration “has a minority in Parliament.” In a third factor, Landerretche added the economic situation, which includes the term emergency family income (IFE), an alleged end to pension fund withdrawals, and the “energy crisis that is generating the war in Ukraine.”
The academic also referred to specific measures that the Boric government intends to implement, such as the minimum wage of $500,000 pesos. He claimed that at present, this would benefit “very few people.”
“I think the studies we have show that the minimum wage actually affects very few people now. And there’s one aspect of this that’s half a liar. In a country that is growing informality like crazy (…) you raise the minimum wage and it doesn’t matter,” he said.
He also questioned the absence of a “development strategy.” “There is an absent focus in the current discussion that does not lead to a process of productive transformation with development, which is what we need,” he said, adding that
Development Bank
Landerretche also addressed the proposal for a Development Bank. The former president of Codelco called it “completely fetishistic” and believes it is “spending institutional political energy.”
On the matter, he commented that the current institutionality “has not been allowed to deploy with the functions it has.”
“I would deploy Corfo, the BancoEstado could do some part, but above all Corfo. And it would also deploy the state companies (…), Codelco, ENAP, the companies associated with the Armed Forces, are very good companies, eye. They have technological capacity and have the knowledge that engineers have and have the ability to found technological subsidiaries and make productive bets,” he added.

Original source in Spanish