After two weeks of high tension on almost all economic fronts, Sergio Massa will travel to the United States tomorrow afternoon with the expectation that get a nod from the White House in front of the IMF.
The economy minister will arrive in New York between Monday and Tuesday to join the delegation led by Alberto Fernández, and together they will travel to Washington on Wednesday. There, US President Joe Biden is expected to receive his Argentine counterpart.
In parallel, the government will advance changes to accelerate the liquidation of foreign exchange. Massa said on Saturday that “this week there will be more measures to accompany producers who are victims of drought” and that in the April-August period he is preparing a “export incentive program.
After the soy dollar II, since April 1, the minister had promised a dollar of Malbec. as far as he could tell clarion, The economy works on a “differential dollar” for wine, lemon and rice, among others of the 30 regional economies in the studio.
The soybean dollar was applied in September and December, for a period of 30 days. Now, “the idea is a longer window of about four to five months so that they can export more and improve competitiveness”, confirm sources from the Economy.
It would also include tobacco, peanuts, grass, grapes, eggs, cotton, garlic, pears and apples, legumes and olives. Entrepreneurs are also asking for a refund of VAT within 15 days, an increase in refunds to 15% to offset internal taxes and a labor law “compliant” with the business.
With import restrictions pushed to the limit, Massa needs expand the supply of foreign exchange, but it has less and less room for manoeuvre. The Central Bank is running out of reserves and has sold $2.55 billion on the foreign exchange market so far this year, despite accelerating the growth of the official dollar.
Due to the drought, it is expected the loss of US$ 20,000 million in exports and the Fund has limited the use of reserves to intervene in the exchange rate gap. The use of ANSeS financial cash has also encountered new obstacles.
Last week, the Ministry of Economy formalized an exchange to take over dollar securities from the organization and sell other securities on the market, also denominated in dollars and held by the institution.
The announcements deflated the cash with liqui (CCL) -it dropped to $390- and the gap narrowed to less than 80%. The intention was to also provide pesos to the Treasury, but in the face of complaints from the opposition for having “weighed” AnSeS assets, Massa decided to submit the initiative to the technical evaluation of the UBA Faculty of Economics .
In this context, Massa will try to show in the United States external backup to the measures taken in the midst of difficulties to stabilize the economy. It aims to unlock some backing from Janet Yellen, head of the Treasury and key shareholder in the Fund.
The agency already approved US$2.7 billion in deferred deadlines last week. Now, the minister is seeking the body’s board of directors to approve a $5.3 billion disbursement next Friday.
The technical staff has authorized a relief of at least US$2,000 million in the reserve accumulation goal in 2023, but Cristina Kirchner Kirchner is pushing for a review of disbursements and a minor fiscal adjustment. Collapse in export duty collection puts pressure on spending in an election year.
Massa doesn’t arrive at the best moment. Yellen and her Fed counterpart Jerome Powell are more concerned with calming financial markets. after the collapse of three banks in the United States
Inflation is another sensitive front. The pattern of increases of 3.2% per month (fair prices) was tripled by 9.8% inflation in food in February. Without respite, the secretary of Commerce, Matías Tombolini, resumed meetings with businessmen of mass consumption, motorcycles, footwear, supermarkets and clothing.
It is used to monitor prices, unblock the import of inputs and analyze violations. Drought threatens to reduce supply of fruit and vegetables, but Easter is also worrying: in Commerce they see increases over 9% on chocolate eggs.
Source: Clarin
