I estimate that this year the Gross Domestic Product will grow by 7 percent and inflation will not exceed 2 percent. Between May 1996 and May 1997, 500,000 new jobs were created. This signifies economic growth with monetary stability. Few countries in Latin America, and perhaps in the world, can boast such a strong performance. In particular, this increase in GDP will be a consequence, in relative terms, of a strong recovery in investment and the expansion of exports and imports. The macroeconomic situation we are experiencing in 1997 is not the result of exogenous variables, such as the drop in the global interest rate, integration into Mercosur, or Brazil lowering its inflation and influencing ours. On the contrary, it is the deliberate result of a transformation plan that began in 1990, intensified in 1991, and continues to this day.