In the midst of a climate that already has electoral temperatures, the former finance minister Alfonso Prat Gay He spoke this Friday about runaway inflation, basic basket prices and poverty. But he also devoted a special paragraph to the controversial dollar trap and the economist was blunt in stating that it has been shown that the exchange rate restriction was “a disaster”.
With a certain candidate tone, Prat Gay began by saying that “Argentina has always been the Argentina of contrasts. The tragedy of the present coexists with the opportunity of the future”. This is due to the inflationary escalation, which stood at 6.6% in February and thus breached the 100% barrier in the year-on-year analysis. “Yesterday the basic basket numbers came out, tremendous, 11.7% in one month. I have been at the Central Bank for two years and it has risen by 2.23% in two years and here by 11.7% in one month . an absolute disaster”, underlined, indignantly, the former minister of Mauricio Macri.
“The only time there was higher inflation than now was in the midst of hyperinflation, this is what we have ahead of us”projected Prat Gay, who added that “the government has no intention of making things better”.
In this context, the economist agrees with the journalist of Financial Times Michael Stott, who in an article he published in the last few hours raised some optimism for Argentina’s economic future with the arrival of a new government. For the former minister, with a new administration “we can leave behind the tragedy of the present and thus project a provisional future”.
As for the data released this week by INDEC, Prat Gay has warned him “A Typical Family Needs $180,000 Not to Be Poor” with an average salary of $100,000. “At the end of Alberto Fernández’s term, poverty will be 50%; they speculated with 35%, it is disaster that must be ordered. Argentina can take advantage of the opportunities that the world offers,” she stressed.
The economist also spoke with Radio Mithras on the legacy that the government of the Frente de Todos will leave and anticipated it “It will be worse than 2015”. “There are many economists in Juntos por el Cambio who work on different levels. I don’t see this changing before PASO,” she said.
However, Prat Gay stressed that “it is important that from August to October the candidate begins to communicate what the program is, what measures must be taken and why this path is necessary. In the management of Cambiemos, this narrative has been missing “The program doesn’t end with the economy. Unlike 2015, today there is the awareness that this is not enough. The model is sold out; They devalue every day, 6% a month, the currency has already changed. Confidence must be generated to order the relative prices”.
In another section of the interview, the economist insisted on the need to “correct the exchange rate,” but discouraged “brutal devaluation” while blaming currency restrictions maintained during the current administration. “Every time there were supplies in Argentina the situation got worse, production has not increased, poverty has increased, reserves have decreased. The trap has been proven to be a disaster. Of course you have to remove the trap. But I don’t think it’s overnight“, he has declared.
Finally, Prat Gay indicated: “Argentina’s problem is not the shortage of dollars but common sense. In particular, the leadership that does not accept to go ahead and this is the great challenge of the next government”.
Source: Clarin
