WE KEEP OUR WORKERS IN TIME OF CRISIS, SAID LATIN AMERICAN MAGNATES |
Cartagena de Indias. The richest men of Latin America came to this city in what they call “Parents and Sons Meeting” this week. They intend to discuss immediate actions to prevent the effects of the global recession in the region. But what is interesting is the type of language they are using: to face it with social responsibility. The key is avoiding as much as possible the cut in the number of employees.
| “We industrialists have the purpose not to cut personnel, but trying to keep the people at place as much as possible. So far in our group we have not fire a single person”, said the Colombian business magnate Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo. |
The Mexican industrialist Olegario Vásquez Araña said that even if the company has a reduction in revenues, they are going to keep employees in order to guarantee at least their food.
The policy of the Latin American business magnates is to give opportunities to the young people in a time of global recession and it would be the way to face its consequences. The proposal is of great importance, because unemployment is very often the reason of political and social instability in Latin America. At the other side, unemployment would open the doors to the growing of illegal business like drug trafficking.
Please invest in Latin America, said Uribe
The meeting, that became an important event for the region, was also assisted by president Álvaro Uribe who asked the richest men of the Western Hemisphere in Cartagena to invest in Colombia as a way to avoid the consequences of a global recession.
Uribe underlined that investment with social responsibility is the best way of prosperity and social cohesion. At the same time, more investment means a less effect of the financial crisis because it will help to keep employment up, said the president. He talked about labor fraternity to promote investment.
Colombia will not come into recession, said Wall Street
According to financial analysts of Wall Street, it is possible that the Colombian economy will not fall into recession as it is predicted by others. The Colombian economist Alberto Bernal of the Bulltick Capital Markets, declared that Colombia will have a grow of 2 percent this year in its economy.
Bernal explained that Colombia learn from its 1999 crisis and for this reason it did not move its interbank rate with the international assets and there were not speculations for example during the fall of Lehman Brothers.
The scholar of the economy spoke during a financial forum organized by Grupo Bancolombia and he said that Banco de la República will continue its base rate of interest that he predicted in 5.5 percent by the end of this year. He said also that the Dollar will be 2,200 pesos this year.
However, the effects of the crisis will come to Colombia by Venezuela, said Daniel Niño Tarazona, manager of financial research of Bancolombia. Colombia is one of the main financial partners of Caracas and then, with the crisis, that country will reduce imports from the coffee nation and will have a strong currency devaluation.
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