Cainco: “The economic model is exhausted and the State is suffocating the private sector” | “El modelo económico está agotado y el Estado asfixia al sector privado”

By Ernesto Estremadoiro Flores, El Deber:

TENSION

Jean Pierre Antelo, President of Cainco / Photo: Ricardo Montero

The president of the Chamber of Industry, Commerce, Services and Tourism of Santa Cruz (Cainco), Jean Pierre Antelo, warned that the current government policies are deepening the economic crisis and putting productivity, employment, and the basic food basket at risk.

Jean Pierre Antelo, president of the Chamber of Industry, Commerce, Services and Tourism of Santa Cruz (Cainco), criticized Bolivia’s current economic model, calling it “exhausted” and directly responsible for the shortage of dollars, persistent inflation, and the deterioration of Bolivians’ purchasing power.

“The State has lost its ability to generate solutions. What we are witnessing today is the collapse of an economic model that no longer works,” he stated.

He argued that the measures adopted by the government—such as market intervention, export restrictions, and price controls—only aim to blame the private sector for a structural crisis created by the State itself.

For the business leader, the only viable way out of the current situation is to allow the private sector to drive the economy: “The only viable economic alternative to generate food, products, productivity, and employment is the private sector. But as long as the State sidelines it, there will be no conditions for improvement,” he asserted.

Antelo also warned about the visible effects of the crisis on Bolivian households: “Inflation is felt every day. Money is no longer enough. Salaries are losing value. What seemed like a problem of the productive sector now affects every Bolivian family struggling to fill their basic food basket.”

In his assessment, the president of Cainco warned that the government’s inaction, along with a political agenda disconnected from real economic problems, is deepening the uncertainty.

“Instead of addressing the dollar and fuel crisis with structural solutions, the government resorts to arbitrary regulations that only create more smoke screens,” he said.

For Antelo, restrictions on the private sector will not solve the underlying problems, and he reiterated that Bolivia urgently needs a change in economic direction.

“Without investment, without freedom to produce, and without incentives for employment, there is no way out,” he concluded.

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