Before leaving for the United States, Sergio Massa launched the audit on bond trading with ANSeS. He did so this Monday by formally asking the authorities of the Faculty of Economic Sciences (UBA) and the General Audit of the Nation (AGN) to rule on whether the operations arranged by decree last week could cause a “loss of assets” for public bodies.
The Minister of Economy recourse to two institutions led by radicalism, following the criticisms raised by the operation among economists and the complaints presented by the PRO in Cassation. What is questioned is whether the Treasury seeks to buy out the pension institution’s dollar bonds and place securities in pesos, which is seen as a “weighting” to the detriment of “pension funds”.
Initially Mass spoke with the radical deputy and vice-rector of the University of Buenos Aires, Emiliano Yacobitti, to carry out the verification. But the opposition leader on Monday distanced himself by denying having received the request. “Given the journalistic versions circulating these days, I must comment that no request for a report has yet been received by the University of Buenos Aires,” he said before the letter was released.
In this way he detached himself from the government initiative and revealed his disagreement with the way the minister proceeded. “The logical thing would have been for the government to send the matter to Congress. And, with a public project, the UBA, building on its prestige, has released its technical opinion,” said Yacobitti on his Twitter account.
However, he argued that “who should publicly vote or comment on the matter would have a rigorous analysis of all the implications of the measure, to vote for it or to comment on it publicly. We believe in the role of universities in the public debate, as happens in other countries”.
With less and less leeway, Massa launched the trade to finance the deficit amid falling receipts and hold finance dollars in the face of relentless loss of reserves. “The exchange is still standing, there is no call, there is a body by body procedure with the 113 (entities), the first thing we will do is the exchange and delisting of the globals to lower the external debt by 4,000 million dollars,” they said. in Economics.
While the UBA and the AGN are preparing their opinion, the idea at the Palacio de Hacienda is to regulate the decree that ordered the exchange of Global bonds and the sale of the Bonares held by ANSeS in the next few days. The first operation implies that the Treasury will hold the papers in dollars and in exchange the agency will receive a double security in pesos (adjusted for the best outcome between inflation and devaluation). expiring in 2036. Subsequently, the Globals will be withdrawn from circulation.
The second provision aims to sell the Bonares on the market, securities also payable in dollars. 70% of the pesos collected by ANSeS will be used for the purchase of dual bonds in pesos from the Treasury and 30% of the funds raised will be used to cover expenses and investments.
Within this framework, the audit aims toor seek support, bypassing Congress, and determine whether the transaction involves damages or revalues ANSeS’s investment portfolio. “I have taken the decision that the UBA, through the Faculty of Economics, make an opinion to see if the exchange is beneficial for ANSeS. If the opinion says it is not advantageous, ANSeS will not intervene in the exchange”, Massa assured in dialogue with Miter radio a few days ago.
The Faculty of Economics is controlled by Yacobitti, vice-chancellor of the public university and ally of Senator Martín Lousteau. Both share a common past with Enrique “Coti” Nosiglia, Raúl Alfonsín’s former Interior Minister who promoted with them the breaking of the UCR bloc to Deputies, even though he has recently lost influence over his coreligionists. Last October Yacobitti negotiated with Massa the quorum that allowed for the debate on the finance law. His Evolution bloc also voted in favor overall, differing from the opposition arc, which either abstained or voted against.
Source: Clarin
