MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine minister tells industry to invest 30bn dollars annual to ensure 7% growth

Industry minister Giorgi: economic growth with social inclusion is the K model

Argentine Industry Minister, Débora Giorgi, came on stage Tuesday at the Industrial Union’s annual conference to defend the “Kirchnerite economic model”, and warned that in order to keep an average growth of 7% as asked by businessmen, they would have to increase their annual investments to 30 billion dollars.

During the event Minister Giorgi addressed Argentina’s business elite and told them: “of course we can keep growing at a 6-7% annual rate, but for doing so we have to focus on adding value to our products, plus an annual investment of 30 billion dollars.”

Likewise, Giorgi said that the government is “fully committed” with granting easy credit access to companies willing to expand their investments, and remembered that “since 2003 the Kirchnerite governments have granted 28.6 billion pesos (plus 7 billion dollars) in credits to the private sector”

“When you ask us to begin an ‘economic development process’ I will tell you it has already started and this was when the government decided on economic growth with social inclusion, that is development”, said Giorgi who asked the industry lobby to invest in what is most in demand globally: “science and technology”.

Giorgi said that science and technology investment in Argentina is currently 0.2% of GDP, “which is nothing compared with Brazil, 0.7%, so this is a pending issue we will address at the next congress with the industrial union”.

Finally the minister underlined that “Argentina is recent years experienced a very strong increase in investment both in quantity and efficiency. That is not optimism, it is realism. Targets are based on realism, on what we already have achieved”.