Economics: A competitiveness plan for the campaign
The country’s anti-monopoly regulatory agency, Cofece, issued a document titled "Economic competition, platform for 2018-2024 growth," which offers an analysis of the current situation in relation to economic competition and an agenda of measures to spur competition as a necessary and indispensable condition for strengthening economic activity and eradicating privileges that benefit only a few at the expense of society.
The time frame it addresses is that of the next presidential administration, and the authority makes it clear that the document is intended as something of a roadmap to be used by political parties and candidates for designing and implementing governmental policies to spur competition and, in turn, accelerate the country's growth. This is an important initiative and it has circulated widely in the past months as the parties prepared for their nomination contests and now enter the general election campaign.
Many of the proposals have strong merit, although the document at times risks offering competition as a panacea, a defect that is all the more serious if competition initiatives are not complemented by and consistent with other government policies and strategies. This is a danger that has befallen other major initiatives such as the National Anticorruption System, the limits on the National Entrepreneur Institute’s efforts to promote the development of new companies, the impact of unfair foreign trade practices for companies in various sectors of the economy, or the disaster of the public prosecutor’s offices, even with the new criminal justice system.
Cofece proposes five measures for the presidential candidates' consideration: three decrees, the adoption of which would be the responsibility of the executive branch of government, and a program of budgetary incentives to be designed by Congress that would grant the agency the authority to determine the unconstitutionality of laws in this regard.
The document provides a clear analysis of the country's situation in terms of competition, albeit with an overblown perception of the results to be obtained by placing the issue at the center of all problems. However, the information is valid on many levels and should be considered in designing public policies for the next administration as well as state governments.
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