The president of the National Council of Business, Marino Ginebra urged the government to cut its payroll, which has gone up 34% in the first year of the Mejia administration “without reflecting any improvement in the services provided by the state.” He spoke during the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon as reported by the Listin Diario. In the talk, Ginebra said that the practice has been carried out over the years by several governments. He said that in 1975, the government payroll was 100,000 staff. This is up to 352,000 in 2001. He commented that the population has only doubled in size, while the government payroll has increased three and a half times. He criticized the government practice of paying for political favors with government jobs. He said it is urgent that the government make the efficient use of resources a priority and invest those resources in education, health and infrastructure. Ginebra also spoke of the need for a competitive power sector and more supervision in that sector. Referring to the trend to increase government debt, he said future fiscal problems are in the making when the government will have to make payments on this debt. He urged the government to set guidelines for sustainable indebtedness in order to avoid concerns that are building up in the business sector. He said it is vital that the interest rates continue low so that productive sectors and the economy can recover. He also favors unifying the exchange market so as not to continue penalizing exports.
