The BCRA and the CAF Award Prize to the Argentine Winner of the University Essay Contest “Ideas for the Future”

The BCRA and the CAF (Development Bank of Latin America) awarded the prize to the Argentine winner of the second edition of the contest “Ideas for the Future”. Nazarena Marano Suffern, who graduated from Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) and is currently a student at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, presented her essay “Rethinking Latin American Free Trade Agreements: A Tool for Increasing Exports?”

The authorities of the BCRA and the CAF granted her a certificate of recognition for her work. During the virtual ceremony, Germán Feldman, the Economic Research Deputy General Manager of the BCRA, pointed out that “the lines of research of this year´s award became more relevant in the current pandemic context, namely: how to avoid falling in the middle-class income trap; how to strike a balance between social agenda and macroeconomic stability; how to set suitable mechanisms to measure social unrest; which areas are of upmost importance to boost development in the region; how to make SMEs more competitive so that they offer highly qualified employment.”

In turn, Santiago Rojas, the CAF representative in Argentina, highlighted the significance of the award. “The BCRA and the CAF seek to encourage a thoughtful training on the problematic issues in the region, thus ensuring the exchange and generation of ideas, making the most of the young talents in our region,” said Rojas.

In her essay, the author highlights the role of exports in the literature on structural development problems in Latin America and ventures answers on whether it is likely to think of export development policies only in terms of the external agenda. Marano Suffern also goes over some aspects that are under discussion and are useful to plan the region´s trade agenda for the coming years.

The contest “Ideas for the Future”, organized by the CAF and the BCRA, seeks to capture the university students' perspective of the development challenges faced by Latin America and the Caribbean. The winners from the 19 CAF member countries will compete for three prizes at the Ibero-Amercian level, within the framework of the CAF Conference which will be held on November 6, 2020 in Mexico City.

October 22, 2020.