Carlos Cano’s resignation letter warns of ‘bureaucratic and political interference in the economy’

After learning of his resignation from Ecopetrol Board of Directorsformer Minister of Agriculture Carlos Gustav Cano published a letter in which he spoke, among other things, of the current economic situation in Colombia and the independence of certain bodies.

According to this, in which he signed as a professor at the Universidad de los Andes and former director of Banco de la República, the country fortunately has a Financial monitoring solid, with recognized professional solvency, and with a notable degree of independence which, in accordance with the axes of stabilization and mitigation of volatility, are inherent in any economic cycle in a free market regime.

However, he noted that there is also a Public Credit Department suitable and well endowed with human talent, who, however, “should enjoy greater independence, since his assistance, together with the CARF Technical Secretariat (Autonomous Fiscal Rule Committee), is crucial for safeguarding the sustainability of public finances”.

“In short, the value of the independence of bodies intended to respond to medium- and long-term imperatives, as opposed to purely circumstantial imperatives, subject to constant bureaucratic and political interference, constitutes an irreplaceable bulwark of sustainability. of democracy with regard to its raison d’être: true collective well-being. Not to mention the corporate governance of state enterprises that still exist as such, and financially support a large part of the functioning of the state, in addition to being the engine of its development, which is the energy “, he underlined.

In the field of management macroeconomicswhich is usually contested by the onslaught of business cyclesand, in turn, and therefore, for the electors, he noted that Colombian society has achieved two historic conquests of unprecedented importance.

According to him, first of all, “consecration of the system of independence and administrative and financial autonomy of the central bank vis-à-vis the national government for the conduct of monetary policy, arguably the most significant contribution of the Political Constitution of 1991 to the stability of the productive apparatus”. And, secondly, “the adoption in the judicial system from 2011 of a Budget rule of a structural nature, aimed at disciplining the management of public finances, in harmony with that of the currency”.

“These are two valuable pillars, aimed at strengthening the sustainability of the democratic system from the perspective of the functioning of the economy. Hence the incessant need to ensure respect and respect for it by citizens through its various surveillance and control agencies, both from the official orbit and from the private sphere, including of course the media and trade unions. , pointed out Cano.

He pointed out that in the two spheres lies everything responsible and appropriate macroeconomic managementbased on at least three key conditions, namely: anti-cyclicality, anticipation and communication.

“In simple and simple terms – at the limit of the Bible – that it is a question of stopping, as long as it is sooner rather than later, the march of the productive apparatus in a period of overwhelmed boom and apply strict criteria of austerity in spending, as well as the increase in collections of the public treasury, in these times of fat cows, that is to say the dreaded “good times”, “he said. declared.

He wrote it in order to be able to adequately face the times of skinny cowsby relaxing the currency controlthe reduction of Taxation and the increase of state investment. All this, accompanied by a permanent exercise in pedagogy before citizenship, without any exclusion.