MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mujica calls on the ruling coalition “not to kill the golden eggs hen” of investment

Uruguayan president called for moderation from his catch-all ruling coalition

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica called on the ruling coalition to restrain public comments on wealth distribution or re-distribution underlining that the “golden eggs’ hen” is private investment so please “don’t kill the hen”.

“We have no doubts that we have a unique historic opportunity, unprecedented in the last 50 to 60 years and if the current rate of investment, growth and development are sustained we could have a per capita income of 20.000 US dollars by the end of 2014”, said Mujica in his daily broadcast.

The president’s message was directed to several parties in the catch all ruling coalition that stretches from conservative Christian democrats to the Communist party and his own former urban guerrillas now organized as a political movement, who are insistently claiming for a “re-distribution of wealth” given the sustained growth of the Uruguayan economy.

Mujica said that until 2005, the (Uruguayan) people number one demand was “jobs, the lack of jobs”, but that is no longer so. “Why? Because investment has multiplied and I believe all economists, from all different schools agree that the most efficient way to create jobs is through investments”.

But he also pointed out that it wasn’t government investment since “government was terribly indebted since the 2002 crisis, no it was not marvellous public investment that did the task simply because the resources were not there; the bucks weren’t there”.

Mujica said that a package of intelligent measures helped attract and promote private and international investment “so it’s not rational to question the economic fundamentals that have helped to multiply investment and create jobs”.

“The economy is working fine, let’s not play or meddle with it”, he added.

“It will always be possible to improve distribution, but we must act from where we have reached, where we stand and not pretend going back and throw overboard all that has been achieved” said the president who emphasized “we must learn from our own history of booms and busts”.

Mujica said that rational economic policies enabled Uruguay to overcome the “brutal debts accumulated to 2004 and 2005”, which then liberated resources for social investments, health and education. He said that the same economy will now “give us the resources to address the housing problem, which is in arrears. And let us agree that the big battle of redistribution is promoting education”.

“Not by chance are we in the glory and we will never be entirely satisfied even when the job has been accomplished, but we need to keep the unity of the country. Please let’s all give an uninterested push, give opportunities a chance; let’s not kill the golden eggs’ hen of investment”.

Finally he regretted that many people even when their lives are in good shape “keep complaining, but well that is part of our national Uruguayan heritage”.