What obstacles are there to producing in Argentina?
Our country is rich in natural resources. But if we don't do something with them, we will fall into the situation of some African countries.
The natural resources of our country are beautiful. The problem for Argentina is that, if we don't do something with them, we will fall into the situation of some African countries. Let's think about an energy project like Vaca Muerta, for example. Vaca Muerta may be viable, but the delay in time around it no longer works. The world is different, the speed is different: the day no longer has 24 hours, now it has 12. I live it with this intensity, and not because they are 12 hours that are lost in a crazy way, but because everything advances at a dizzying pace and economic changes are constant. The production processes of central countries are fast and efficient; almost automatically, once a deposit is identified, exploration is defined and the location is known, exploitation begins.
Now, how can a national SME company leverage itself to work without the support of a bank? It is very difficult. And what is done abroad? Thanks to a calculated margin of what is going to be exploited, the production is sold before extraction. In this way, companies have the funds credited before starting work. In Argentina, on the other hand, we work without the support of banks, so we “push” with the internal market. That is why we wanted to generate a market for goldsmiths from Bluemoon, for the sale of silver and gold dedicated to the production of mates and straws, for example. But the consumption of gold and silver in this country is very delicate: if you put on some gold, because of the insecurity you cannot go out on the street. That is how it is. The economy is so devastated that crime poses a problem of survival.
The result of many of these obstacles to production is that Chile, a country three times smaller than ours, is the leading exporter of copper, while Argentina, although it is close to the Chilean El Teniente mine and has practically the same geological form to do the same, does not exploit the resource. I believe that there is no political decision to change this. The president who arrives in October 2023 has to make a ten-year political decision, as in serious countries.
Fuente: Luis Ricigliano