“There’s a morbid that Argentina’s problems are solved magically “, Sergio Massa said in an interview with TN. And immediately after, without naming him, he launched his first Questioning Maurizio Macri: “I once heard a president say ‘I solve inflation in a snap of my fingers.’ And the truth is that these magical solutionsof magical realism, of things that don’t require a pass, a planning, a sacrifice, some call it shock and others great program presentations, so far the Argentines have led them to enormous frustrations“.
Massa had been asked if he intended to devalue the official exchange rate. The Minister of Economy of the government of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner resource used K to always indicate the macrist past and, in the style of the vice president, to refer to the absence of magic. After advance measures on old-age savings and frozen prices – “Fair”, as the Government calls it “and acknowledged that the economic situation, in the face of inflation,” is not comfortable, it is still critical “.
“We were facing a crisis and there is no reason to deny it“, the minister said about his state of the situation when he took over the cabinet of Alberto Fernández. And he went on to list:” Net negative reserves in the Central Bank, the day we assumed, all financial dollars above 360 pesos, the country risk in 2974, inflation skyrocketed and the price chain was cut. “Then the journalist Marcelo Bonelli joked that he wanted to be a plumber because of his metaphor of the Titanic.
For Massa “from there it was necessary to take decisions that embraced various sectors of the economy and the functioning of the state.” “There is a lot of work. We had to take care of the fiscal front, we have suspended everything that is transitory advances from the Treasury to the put an end to the process of uncontrolled monetary issuance“, he indicated.
“We received the Ministry with a fiscal deficit of 12.4 for the planned year of the state, “represented Massa and eyes were on the legacy of Martín Guzmán.
But when asked if he was pointing the blame on his predecessor, Massa turned away from direct controversy. “I’m not talking about inheritance because when you receive a responsibility you receive it without inventory benefit. I don’t look back. people are fed up than the one who sits in one place blame the one who came first“, he dodged.
“Somehow we have begun to stabilize the situation“, launched Massa defending his management, while admitting that” the situation still not comfortable, still critical“.
He then argued with his measures: “It requires that we continue to make efforts on the part of the state, and for this reason in some areas we are calling for austerity in spendingfor this reason we remove the limitation of staff assignments in the public sector, we limit some operational schemes towards public companies and we concentrate the level of distribution of investments in the Ministry of Finance “.
“It is more difficult to be Minister of the Economy, of the Chamber [de Diputados] it presupposes political dialogue, but ultimately the decision on a measure or a law is collective. When I took office we were facing a crisis, “Massa defined before his not-so-new role in the Council of Ministers.
Do Massa, Cristina Kirchner or Alberto Fernández decide? To the million dollar question, the minister replied with a certain elegance: the “decision” was taken, but he delegated “the course” to others.
“The decisions I make are made when I am convinced. The task of a minister does not allow for a state assembly. Yes, I have the opportunity, week after week, to chat with the President and Vice President on the course and problems. anticipate them and see workarounds, “he said.
This action, in his opinion, allows “cohesion around an economic system that at this stage requires an effort that must alleviate the painful situation that many people are experiencing”.
“The company needs concrete answers. We have to do an inflation reduction tourdivide by two months, lower by one point every two months, lower and stabilize, with the aim of reach December ’23 with inflation parked below three points. It’s the challenge and my main responsibility, “she said. Massa has set himself a goal.
And then came the second criticism of Macri. “Credibility is lacking because whoever said ‘let’s take this today credit with the Fund, 50 billion dollars and the problems are over ‘. Y they are not finished“, he indicated.
“Later another appeared that said ‘today we devalued and the problems are over.’ And they weren’t even over. of our public spending; trade surplus, to show that we can sell Argentine work to the world and that we sell more than we buy; accumulate reserves, because this does our currency is strong and credible; and build a development process with inclusion, “she said, in a list of intentions.
Sergio Massa, between the freezing of prices and the bleeding of dollars
The economy agenda is linked to inflation. The Minister of Economy, together with the Secretary of Commerce Matías Tombolini, are preparing to launch a new price freeze in the coming days. would reach 1200 items for a period of 120 days. In turn, from the economic portfolio they aspire to implement a cap of monthly increases of 4% for the rest of the products.
According to official sources, the goal is to launch the program “as soon as possible” in an attempt to show “actions” for contain inflation which aims to close the year in three figures.
Commerce officials are working against the clock to ensure that the list is finished and can be rolled out to shelves before the beginning of December when “the sales are more effervescent for New Year’s Eve”commented a source from one of the companies involved in the negotiation.
Meanwhile, Massa remains vigilant the hemorrhage of dollars experienced by the Central Bank from the beginning of November. This Wednesday it hit 80 million dollars, in a market where supply is scarce and not enough to cover demand.
In the seven rounds of the month, the monetary authority has already had to sell $ 618 million. From the team of Miguel Pesce They try to tone down the argumentsaying that the current one tends to be a deficit month: in the same month of 2021, 900 million dollars were lost.
But this time the worrying fact is that the outflow of foreign exchange is not stopped. After less than a third of the month, He has already delivered more dollars than the $ 498 million he received in October. And moving forward with few agricultural liquidations, the outlook does not seem to improve.
In September Central had managed to pocket 5,000 million US dollars from the sale of the soybean dollar, which today allows it, despite the poor results of October and until November on the foreign exchange market, to have a favorable balance of US dollars 3, $ 9 billion so far this year.
News in development.
ds
Source: Clarin
