The president ignored it year-on-year inflation surpassed 100% in February, news that INDEC will give when it publishes last month’s CPI, in mid-March. But he acknowledged that inflation is a very difficult problem to solve. Another case of observation and commentary on reality.
That said, he said that the fiscal balance must be a north of government management. “We don’t need the International Monetary Fund to tell us.” You said this a few hours after the approval of a new moratorium on pensions. and just before defend the operating deficit of public companies, which exceeded 5,000 million dollars – equivalent to one point of GDP – in 2022 and will reach a similar level in 2023.
He admitted that “high inflation is a central factor of destabilization of the economy”. He also noticed that taking care of the value of the coin is crucial, but he did not mention what the Central Bank is doing with monetary policy or the “Leliq ball”. Nor the debt in pesos at increasingly high rates that he is contracting during his mandate and that scares the whole market.
As for the fiscal deficit, the prospects are not good. It exploded in January after stepping on it in December to meet the goals agreed with the IMF.
Fernandez looked bet on the extreme gradualness -in fact, he praised the “moderation” that he said to apply on all management fronts- with respect to what is being defined as inevitable for 2024: shock policies that they straighten out the tax issue, precisely, in the shortest possible time.
The president has defended his approach to attacking the problem: He says he is committed to achieving fiscal balance and low inflation “without generating more poverty or less growth”, although he admitted that it is not easy.
With the central bank’s reserves at the limit, defended with more stocks, the president stressed that “increasing exports is a priority because economic activity cannot be sustained without foreign currency”. Another comment from the commentator.
He highlighted the recovery of formal jobs in the private sector – a rebound after the collapse caused by the pandemic – but ignored the dizzying increase in informal work, the one that does not generate social security contributions and ends up promoting new pension moratoria. He spoke of economic growth but not of the four consecutive months of decline accumulated by the monthly evolution of the GDP, precisely with rising inflation: that is, stagflation.
He devoted a few paragraphs to deficit of public companies and stated that the information disseminated on this issue -in clarionfor example, it is part of a smear campaign that precedes a hypothetical new wave of privatizations or demolitions promoted by neoliberalism.
He specified his approach using as an example Argentine airlines (managed by Cámpora and which has accumulated losses of almost US$ 6,000 million in a decade) and AYSA (led by Malena Galmarini de Massa). He has also spoken out in defense of railroad conglomerate, which has an operating deficit of $3.1 million a day and is today the largest employer in the country, with nearly 25,000 employees receiving from that company.
Fernández is convinced that his government’s approach is the right one. Not even his Kirchner allies of the Frente de Todos think the same way.
Source: Clarin
