The head of the Central Bank, Miguel Angel Pesce, spoke on the radio and left a couple of definitions on the matter inflation, exchange with China, IMF mission. With an accent on the Qatari dollar, the most expensive of the 16 that currently move in Argentina, whose objective is to swell the reserves of the monetary entity and which, due to the amount of taxes, discourages travel abroad.
“We came from a structural problem, a shortage of foreign currency, we exported 60,000 million dollars, the streak was broken in 2018, where the product fell,” said Pesce. And he continued: “We now export almost 90,000 million dollars and the difficulty that appeared to us was the increase in energy”.
In that line he commented: “This has brought us difficulties this year, but we know they will be overcome with infrastructure. Energy restriction has a solution in a few years”
but we have to build a bridge across that critical situation, avoiding an adjustment that is not necessary.
When asked how the Qatari dollar, the top currency for overseas travellers, is giving them, Pesce commented ‘The drop in overseas tourism spending has been sharp’In figures, the head of the monetary entity said that “it is more than $100 million a month”.
And referring to the incentive that Argentina is trying to give to foreign tourists who visit the country, Pesce underlined that there have been some system problems, “credit cards and local operators have to solve” these problems “to offer to foreign tourists who spend like this, that kind of change.” “Let’s hope this week resolves itself”, She said. And she added: “It will have an impact on European and American tourism who are not used to moving around the world with cash.”
Another element that makes Argentines lose sleep, beyond what happens with the dollar, is inflation: “We had a peak of inflation in July, which exceeded 7%, it has now been located in the order of 6% and we expect it inflation gradually decreases. There are also shock claims and so on, but we know the social consequences, we hope so inflation is around 60% or less next year.“
“We must build a bridge to Argentina, through hydrocarbon export, mining and industry, obtain higher import levels and we can recover growth”, said Pesce. And he added: “We are using all available resources so that there are no consequences on real wages and pensions”.
The third issue on which the head of the monetary entity was consulted was exchange with China. Dialoguing with Tuny Kollmann, on radio 10, he indicated: “We have had consultations in recent times of companies that ask us to use the yuan, do not use other currencies. This President Alberto Fernández will work on it with Xi XinpingThat these Chinese investments have guarantees, that they can be made in yuan, where soap money plays an important role”.
As part of the International Monetary Fund’s mission that arrived in Argentina last Friday to undertake a new review, the head of the BCRA said “There is a substantial discussion with the IMF, which has to do with the terms of financing, programs of extended concessions and with surcharges, a problem that many countries also have with this type of programme. We hope that through dialogue, the Fund does not apply this type of surcharge or short terms for funding that harms countries that have this problem”.
NS
Source: Clarin
