Prevent inflation and lower the deficit, the consensus signed by economists

With inflation entering at 70% a year, economists called Clarion to participate in the fourth edition of the cycle of Democracy and Development coincided with the importance of lowering the deficit and stopping price increases.

Under the slogan “The engines for Argentine growth”, Ricardo Arriazu, Carlos Melconian, Emmanuel Alvarez Agis and Hernán Lacunza spoke in the auditorium of Malba before more than 300 people this includes officials, political leaders, businessmen and financiers.

Ricardo Arriazu’s exhibition opened the round. He pointed out that Argentina’s history can be divided into two batches. On the one hand, the first 50 years in which the country was a global supplier in the style of what is now China. On the other hand is the last hundred years, characterized by “a decline in all forms of government and all forms of politics”.

“It is wrong that Argentina has a problem with the lack of foreign currency structure. The problem is that the public sector spends more. We invented the philosopher’s stone: we want to get rich without working, ”Arriazu said.

“Until we realize that stocking is a crime, we have no future, and until we realize that inflation is a scamand that devaluation is a scam and the freezing of deposits is a scam, as long as we justify it as an economic policy measure, we have no future, ”Arriazu launched.

The second speaker was the former president of Banco Nación, Carlos Melconian. The economist warns about the difficulties it could create for 2023 “provide a lot of incentives and get the rights to plans and performances” in different sectors.

For Melconian, this is key to “consolidate the framework. We must prepare for a public sector reform. A dysregulatory shock is urgent. The initiative should be released to the private sector, which is what creates wealth, ”he said.“ When public spending is not financed, one is doomed. Let’s go back to inflation of 60 or 70% per year“.

“Maybe in 2023 the coalition will win and it will be a challenge. We have to close the agreements before the election. They are not consensus, they are agreements,” Melconian said.

Economist Emmanuel Álvarez Agis reflects on populist regimes in the country: “We are all populists, but always have someone else’s money “he said in his presentation.

In addition, he was not critical about energy subsidies during Cristina Kirchner’s last government, in which she served as Deputy Minister of Economy.

“I accept responsibility for participating in a government that has left subsidies at 3.5 points of GDP,” said the head of consulting firm PXQ.

“The problem of inflation in Argentina will take many years to solve and more than a mandate. The last time I said it on the campaign trail, they asked me to keep my mouth shut, “he said. And he remarked:” there are no magic solutions. The goal of monetary policy should be to lower inflation. The interest rate higher than inflation is a major consensus for the peso to return to being a savings currency in the coming decades. “

The last exhibitor was Hernán Lacunza. “The stagnation is not for a decade, but for at least 50 years. Argentina has grown by half a point per year for the past 50 years, while Chile has grown 2.5 points. We have not surpassed the train of developed countries but of developing countries, “said former Economy Minister Mauricio Macri.

“We demand populism. We are addicted to deficit. For low -income sectors, plans. For middle income rate of subsidies. And for those with high incomes, subsidized loans. The policy fits those requests. Of course, we want you to vote for us“, he thinks.

In this sense, Lacunza suggested that the way out of the stalemate should be built from a coalition government that “pro-export and pro-employment”. “The macro commands, we learned from the last government. We can do the micro. Now, if the dollar is a kite, everyone is tired,” he warned.

“We’ve tried everything over these 45 years: Austral plan, Convertibility, fixed exchange rate, inflation goals. Nothing. We have not intended long -term financial balance for many years. I have nothing against public spending. What you can’t do is spend 40 and collect 30 because you are short of 10 “, Lacunza said in his presentation. “If we don’t fix spending, whatever we do with the money won’t work.”

AQ