In a new episode of pure Keynesian delusion, President Yamandú Orsi (Frente Amplio) sent a clear message to the Congress of Intendants: that the municipalities commit to buying a share of the Portland produced by ANCAP. Yes, the same Portland from the Paysandú plant that has been dragging millions in losses for years and that no one buys on the market because it is more expensive than that of the competition.
Translated into everyday Uruguayan: instead of allowing the municipalities to buy cheaper and more efficient cement, the leftist government wants to force local governments to pay more money for the deficit product of the state-owned company. What’s the goal? To keep the white elephant of ANCAP afloat with the wallets of all Uruguayans. Because for the left, “saving jobs” always means the same thing: cross-subsidy, clientelism, and waste disguised as “industrial policy.”
This is pure economic flat-earthism. Believing that forcing the State to consume expensively solves the problem of a non-competitive company.
ANCAP has been dragging chronic deficits for years: losses in Portland, operational inefficiency, and a culture of “the State supports you all.” Now, with Orsi in the Executive Tower, they repeat the recipe: instead of reforming, closing what doesn’t work, or seeking private investors, they take the easy path: making the municipalities (many of them with opposition mayors) swallow the bitter pill and buy more expensively “out of solidarity” with the socialist model.
The letter from Minister Fernanda Cardona to the Congress of Intendants is crystal clear: “commit to reserving a share” of ANCAP’s Portland for departmental works. And as a bonus, they remind them of the millions in transfers from the central government to the municipalities. Translation: “we give you money, but buy our expensive Portland.” It’s the classic leftist barter: public money for clientelism and to keep alive a company that loses money like a sieve.
