Argentina's Economy Makes New Growth Under Marci's Administration

At approximately 9:10 am on January eighth, 2018, a group of thirty five punctual, young bulldogs embarked to Avenida Leandro dressed in appropriate business casual attire, giddy for the first of many business presentations in Argentina. Once arrived, we were faced with the challenge of ten flights of stairs due to the cramped elevator size. With aching calves and sore thighs, we finally reached the tenth floor, gracious for the cold water served to us at the top. We then headed into the presentation room, which resembled a classroom setting, to prepare for the first meeting, mentioned in the blog previous by Janna Blackstone. After this presentation concluded, all of us enjoyed a coffee break in the lobby. Caitlyn Linden was spotted enjoying a croissant during the coffee break and mentioned that, "That last presentation was interesting and applicable to my major. I'm interested in what the next presentation will be!" 

Next, was the presentation by EY Argentina, by Speaker Sebastián Spena, manager of EY Transaction Advisory Services, and Jaysel Shah, a Pennsylvania native that now works for the Argentine company. The presentation began with an overview of Argentina, the eighth largest country in the world with 42.2 million inhabitants. Next, we discussed the political and macroeconomic principles of the country. This began with a discussion on Mauricio Marci, former mayor of Buenos Aires, who won the election and became the president of Argentina on December 10^th, 2015. In comparison to the former political party in Argentina that ruled for the previous twelve years, Marci’s government represents the opposite ideals. According to speaker Sebastian Spena, the Marci administration intends to strengthen local institutions and review economic, justice, foreign and health care policies. Marci’s administration also attacked the issue of black market currency exchange, by increasing the exchange interest rate and devaluing the currency briefly to ensure that citizens will not go against the peso, thus able to obtain pesos from official sources. 

Speaker Jaysel Shah discussing Argentine Investment Policies. 

Based off of economic success, the speakers believe that Marci has put Argentina on the economic map. The inflation rate, although high in Argentina, has steadily been decreasing since Marci’s inauguration. In addition, many world leaders have since visited Argentina to discuss trade deals and foreign operations. This includes President Obama’s visit in 2015, Italian Prime minister Matteo Renzi's visit in 2016, and French President François Hollande's visit in 2016. All of the visits were intended to create trade deals and discuss economic policies between the two countries.

After learning about the investment climate and administrative policies of Argentina, our speakers decided to quiz us with a little Argentine trivia. The questions ranged anywhere from "What is the secondary language of Argentina?" to "Who is a famous Argentine basketball player in the NBA?" During the trivia game we were divided into seven groups of five people. One representative from each group had to stand up when they knew the answer and whoever stood up first and answered correctly received a point. The team with the most points won Argentine chocolates from a restaurant called Havana. Bryant sophomore, Kayla Bauerlein, who was clearly enjoying herself during the game, stated, "This is a fun yet competitive way to learn about Argentina and the culture. I came into this game knowing only a little about the country and now I know more about the city, the food, and that the secondary language is Italian! I speak Italian!"

Representatives from each group standing up during the trivia game

After the final question of the game the dust began to settle with the clear winners emerging; team six, consisting of Janna Blackstone, Andrew Corrado, Nick Blonder, Kayla Bauerlein and Ailene Berry. 

(From left to right) Andrew Corrado, Janna Blackstone, Kayla Bauerlein, Ailene Berry, Nick Blonder

As the excitement wound down, our speakers began to discuss the investment opportunities of Argentina. This included the Infrastructure sector, which had 75 billion dollars of investments, the oil and gas (20 billion), the energy  (35 billion) and agribusiness sectors (15 billion). Speaker Sebastián Spena then broke it down piece by piece, highlighting the individual sections of a sector and create an outlook on future investment strategies. For example, the energy sector could be broken down into thermal, hydro, nuclear and renewable, and each section receives different funding. 

As the presentation was winding down to an end, Speaker Jaysel Shah took a moment to share his experience with us. Originally from the United States, Shah attended Georgetown University in Washington D.C. While there, he studied abroad in Argentina for a semester, and liked it so that he decided to move to Argentina and work after graduation. He enlightened us all on the difference in cultures between the two countries, notably the way of life, the social interactions between coworkers; in Argentina co-workers are like family, and the difference in social ideals and progressiveness.  The lavish picture Shah painted in our heads about studying and eventually living abroad planted a seed in Bridget Gomes's head, when she said, "I would love to live abroad someday and find a job. Who knows? It may be in Argentina."  

Speaker Sebastián Spena and Speaker Jaysel Shah's Contact Information