If, in the spirit of the World Cup, many entrepreneurs have become hopeful and have bet on a fragile stability, at least until the elections, with the request for indictment by the president of the Tribunal, the nightmare has returned. Those who are well informed say yes a plan that is born failed, since they need 75% from the Chamber of Deputies and the same from the Senate. “But it makes noise and damages the economy”slip into the Industrial Union.
Congress prepares for a “Show”. They detail that in the Impeachment Commission, the Frente de Todos has half plus one of its members and it will force an opinion.
For a high-ranking businessman, it will provoke a similar reaction from the opposition with further calls for the impeachment of Alberto Fernández. “There will be tension“, shoot. In the business world, Sergio Massa has the merit of having slowed the pace of the crisis. Of course, this offensive against justice is read as another blow to the thin thread of credibility. “It’s a waste of trust.” they insist.
“A government committed to overthrowing the president of the Supreme Court of Justice scare any investment and breaks the incipient reconstruction of confidence that has taken place in recent months at an international level, sums up Alejandro “Topo” Rodríguez, the national deputy, a blackboard operator.
Massa did not open his mouth but his allied governors, such as the missionary Oscar Herrera Ahuad and Gustavo Bordet of Entre Ríos, they left the forum. The exception is Mariano Arcioni, from Chubut, who resisted until the last moment and in the end accompanied him with the digital signature.
“The minister dribbles as best he can in a government where there are many looking for an exit strategy”, they stressed close to Carlos Rovira, former governor of Misiones and Massa’s interlocutor with the provinces. To all this, Massa sent a clear message to the Casa Rosada: “The storm has not passed.” In the Palacio de Hacienda they made the calculations and the judgment of the Court for the funds of the Municipality implies a 1% reduction in GDP for the Treasury.
In Economics they were scratching the plate to meet targets with the IMF. They say they have passed the test in terms of fiscal deficits and reserves. “We are too satisfied,” they say. By the way, it occurred to Lisandro Cleri, Massa’s man at the Central Bank, to search all the boxes for dollars received from various international lending institutions.
they came to him a measly $65 million of the Secretary of Agriculture who calculated within the objectives with the Fund. Those officials admit that the economy went from intensive care to intermediate care. So, they go hunting for more dollars.
This is what justifies the journey undertaken by the Secretary of Regional Development, Jorge Neme, and the Governor of Catamarca, Raúl Jalil, to Saudi Arabia. They will speak before the billionaire sovereign fund about those privileged corners with lithium and copper in the Andean province.
At all of this, the local CEO of an oil company received a call from its parent company. They asked for one strong release in New York on possible re-profiling of debt after the next presidential election. Who can you talk to about the opposition? they asked me. The manager confessed that he did not know how to respond.
Investment investor Javier Timerman, who usually talks to Cristina Kirchner, warns that 2022 was the worst year for global financial activity since 2008 and “in that context no one looks at Argentina”. There are businesses in Africa and Asia that are doing well. The external turbulence curbs the impulse to bet on the country and this implies that Massa is financed only the local market remains.
Meanwhile, the black swans appear. This is what is happening with the strategic port of Rosario, paralyzed a month ago due to a conflict with the TPR company (Terminal Puerto de Rosario) which risks spreading. Minister Kelly Olmos has decreed conciliation in the first case that he will have to face in office after the farewell of Claudio Moroni. It hasn’t been done. TPR has as a major shareholder Vicentino whose bankruptcy is still in limbo. The minister returns to his office next Monday.
In other companies, union conflicts are also being discussed at a rate of high inflation which can stir up waves of intolerance. The answer is one union alliance around Massa who relies on Carlos West Ocampo of Sanidad, Gerardo Martínez of UOCRA and Ricardo Pignanelli of SMATA.
With this background, Daniel Scioli prepares what will be Lula’s state visit to Argentina. It will be the first trip abroad for the Brazilian president. The next 22 comes at night with a large entrepreneurial entourage. The 24th is the summit of the CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) in Buenos Aires.
Scioli is enthusiastic about financing of US$ 600 million of the second section of the pipeline which would have carried the gas from Vaca Muerta to Porto Alegre. And what already requires hours of negotiation and which could be announced is the possibility of facilitating the export payment system with the local currencies. It is led by record trade with Brazil which reached $28.5 billion in 2022. If it materializes, it would ease pressure on the dollar.
Jorge Arguello does his thing in the US Highlights the exchange of information on the accounts of Argentines in the US which contains another laundering. “It’s a functional signal for both countries,” he stressed to his interlocutors. Even the ambassador dodges the scares. The last one, a law that subsidizes electric cars whose batteries have minerals mined in the United States. or countries with which Washington has trade agreements. Their fear is that the same thing is happening with biodiesel: them we exported 1,600 million dollars and the lobby of American producers stopped it during the Macri government. They still could not take it back.
As far as consumption is concerned, the supermarket chains claim to have experienced December most unusual in history. Due to the World Cup, Christmas sales were delayed and had to run very aggressive promotions to get rid of stocks of pan dulce and toffee bread. There they warn that food has decreased the rate of increase for the second consecutive month. Inflation in supermarkets was 3% in December. They point out that own-brand products or those included in fair prices sell out very quickly.
Already they do not receive lists with comments by manufacturers. Even if they notice a certain shortage when faced with the temptation to offer the same products at fair prices in self-service shops that are not included. The difference is up to 30%.
The government fears the increases in March. And they ordered the secretary of commerce Matías Tombolini agree to freeze the prices of 130 products in the school basket from January 15 to March 31.
Shopping malls are also reporting strong sales after a makeover. The departure of Walmart and Falabella meant, in terms of empty meters, the equivalent to two districts of Arcos, another of its malls. They occupied them with futsal pitches and even a Swiss medical clinic.
There are plans for expansion in this area. IRSA will start with the mega works of the Ciudad Deportiva de la Boca and shopping in La Plata. COTO will inaugurate a Shopping center of 20,000 meters in Nordelta. Obviously the appointment will be in October for a photo with the winner of the elections.
Crossing the Río de la Plata, in the summer of Punta del Este, the rise of Marcelo Figoli, who became famous with the production of shows, attracts attention. Figoli speaks stay with the América de Vila-Manzano group. In recent months he has been the subject of a shopping trip: a collection of radios, the El Noble empanada factory and even the Parque de la Costa.
In his poem Chess, Borges wrote: “God moves the player and he moves the piece.”
“Who will be the God behind Figoli?” they ask without naivety in those gatherings.
Source: Clarin
