In front of an audience packed with businessmen, investors and analysts, the head of IERAL and former president of Banco Nación, Carlos Melconian, said that the priority for the next government is rebuild the Ministry of Economy and stabilize the macroeconomy with fiscal balance. He spoke of the imperative need to reduce public spending and that in this context “it is impossible to lower taxes”the trendy recipe among libertarians like Javier Milei, José Luis Espert and the hard wing of Together for Change.
Melconian was the main host of the Politics, Economy and Real Estate Colloquium, a forum held last Thursday in Mar del Plata, which brought together the mayor of that city, Guillermo Montenegro, the president of Banco de Valores, Juan Nápoli, the l former HSBC CEO Gabriel Martino and businessman Martín Cabrales, among many others. Melconian supported him the current management “is over” and that “the opposition has a prison without a porter” for the 2023 elections.
With his particular neighborhood style, he explained that he is working on a “non-partisan” global economic program for 2024, which includes the balance of public finances, a reform of the public sector and new labor relations. “Don’t be afraid of changing words. The adjustment in Argentina has happened at least in the last 15 years, so what needs to be done is not to fix, but to correct the imbalances, “she said.
On this aspect, he reiterated that “reality has taken away populism’s virginity because it forces the government, not this administration, to resolve the issue of subsidies and social plans”. He pointed out that Sergio Massa is the one who “gives him his back” economically in the ruling party, but compared him to Caruso Lombardi: “He’s here to avoid relegation”. In dialogue with ClarioneMelconian claimed to hope “an adjustment of the exchange variable” before the end of the year or before March, due to exchange rate gaps and a lack of reserves. “It would be a miracle not to recover, even if I don’t know if during the World Cup, before the holidays or in the height of summer”.
At the forum, the economist talked about the possibility of implementation in the country “bimonetarity” a regime that, according to what he said, is being examined by IERAL economists, but has apologized for not providing details. He said he was aware that “it will not be possible to return to the free circulation of dollars” as happened in the first period of Mauricio Macri’s government, but he recalled that “You can’t even go on with the actions.”
“We are analyzing the coexistence, not the competition of the currencies they will have in an adapted exchange regime, in order to rebuild the capital market”, he remarked during his presentation, adding that the idea is that “each person can use the currency they wanteven if we are studying all this, there is still time “, he then added to this newspaper. For Melconian, the stabilization of the macro means reducing spending, putting the accounts in order (” you have to be a grocer “) and that is why he excluded the idea of lowering taxes: “At first it is impossible”.
In a parenthesis, Martino agreed that the only way out “is to create a serious and credible economic policy”. The entrepreneur, who today heads the BFInvest investment fund, acknowledges that the adjustment of expenses “is difficult, but Argentina must try and the company must accept it”. Napoli adds that “the current level of spending is unsustainable and the only way to support it is to raise taxes. We know it is complicated, but the future government, whoever wins, must do so”.
Source: Clarin
