Hoy newspaper quotes a business leader as saying that 400,000 private-sector jobs have been lost as a result of the economic crisis. According to the estimate of the former president of private business association CONEP, Marino Ginebra, stated while this was occurring, “the government was persisting in its efforts to sustain the peso artificially.” Ginebra blamed the job losses on the increase of government appointees, the government’s failure to tackle the Baninter collapse in time, and its excessive public spending bill.