Economy Minister Sergio Massa left a trail of definitions after a radio interview. Prices, advances, imports, inflation, the regional central bank and the dollar, point by point, everything the minister has said about the state of the economy and the next steps he intends to take for the future.
App to check prices
During an interview with El Destape Radio, the official talked about inflation and prices. In that sense, he argued that the plan they work on by the Executive seeks that “people go to the supermarket with a certain peace of mind and security”regarding the prices of personal hygiene products, food and mass consumption.
In this sense, the Minister of Economy has made it clear that the national government is preparing a program that it will seek “stabilize consumer prices in general, in a four-month block” from December to next March.
In this regard, Massa has announced it it will also seek to apply a new citizen control schemewhere “everyone with their mobile phone” will be able to report companies that incur non-compliance, by scanning the barcode on the food container.
The target “is that in the areas of food and personal hygiene and at home there are certainties in consumer products”he highlighted.
During that period there will be fixed prices on products “which represent 86% “ of mass consumption, while “the rest will have a much more moderate (price) variation pattern” than the current one.
Inflation
As for inflation, Massa did not want to make projections for October, the data comes out in mid-November. “I don’t like doing futurology and I prefer to wait for Indec numbers “She said.
Prepaid
On the other hand, the head of the Palacio de Hacienda revealed that the government evaluates the application starting from 2023 “a new health system model” to determine the shares of prepaid drug companies after “above average increases” of inflation that these entities have had this year, thanks to the current norm.
In addition, the official took advantage of the argument to clarify that he shared the opinion that Cristina Kirchner expressed days ago on the matter. “The increase in prepaid has no explanation, I philosophically share the tweet” of the vice president, in which he questions about the increase that will come into force next December.
However, he indicated: “The difference in any case is that you have to understand that more than complaining, I also have to work on the solution. And what Cristina’s tweet does is reveal a problem prepaid companies have had in the last year: above-average (inflation) increases. I think that’s true, “she said.
However, he noted that the “the increase is given by a resolution, which is made”, and added that “the officer respects what the resolution says”, with which any solution must be given after the end of the year, once the term of validity of that provision has expired.
“I do not see bad faith on the part of the official. There is an expiration time, and we need to think of a new model, that the health company earns, that the charge is linked to the rate of use,” Massa said, among the options they were They are considering to implement a new model for determining the rates of the private health system.
In this way, the Minister of Economy recalled resolution 867/2022, which had authorized by the end of the year the increase in the value of the shares of the companies registered in the National Registry of Prepaid Medicine Entities (RNEMP) with a “maximum limit in the variation of the Healthcare Cost Index”.
Wages
In terms of earned income, he expressed that “between (the management of former President Mauricio) Macri and the pandemic, salary lost 23 points“, and specified that the biggest debt of the electoral contract of the Front of All is recover the purchasing power of workers.
“You have to tell people that the end of the road is like what you expect, but that we have to cross it, step by step,” explained Sergio Massa. And he added: “Because when you want to jump overnight, in the end someone always loses.”
In this sense, he continued: “Whoever asks you for a leap of devaluation forgets that you throw 15 points of people into poverty, and those who ask you for a distribution leap forget that with the broadcast process a race is generated that can lead you to hyper “.
“The crisis of July and August put us on the verge of hyperinflation”he pointed out.
Bonus or fixed amount?
Furthermore, the Minister of Economy did not exclude the possibility of granting a fixed sum for workers as a means of recovering purchasing power, although he also added that he is considering implementing some kind of bonus.
“Thinking about the salary of the private sector has a problem, which is that of salaries below 120,000 dollars, 60% are municipal employees”, explained Massa in a face to face with the journalist Roberto Navarro. “And when you look at the bills of the municipalities, you say ‘if I put in a fixed sum, it ruins the accounts,'” he said.
However, also on the possibility of granting a fixed sum, he recalled: “Let’s see how we find an instrument. I talked about it with Cristina, with Alberto, with Kelly Olmos, with Wado (of Pedro). “And he added:” What we have to find is a mechanism to strengthen all the workers, because if we don’t, maybe we will help the workers. of the private sector but we leave 1.1 million municipal in the middle “.
regional central bank
Regarding the result of the elections in Brazil, he considers it for bilateral relations “is very encouraging” the victory of the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT), Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, and stated that the work is in progress “in the construction of the project of a regional Central Bank, supranational, with a regional commercial regime “.
“For our economies it is the possibility, in a five-year program, to have the tools to compete in the world of blocs in which we must live today, and to strengthen ourselves in the face of world trade,” said Massa.
YN
Source: Clarin
