Batakis called in to take care of the dollars, ruled out a devaluation and said he will plan with companies

After a hot day on the markets due to the surge in parallel dollars and the collapse of bonds, the new Minister of Economy, Silvina Batakis, raised the need to plan the use of foreign currency, defended the current exchange rate and ratified the path to reduce the fiscal deficit agreed with the IMF, with which the authorities will meet in the next few hours.

“The reserves that Argentina has it must be available for capital goods or for another destinationannual programs must be planned with business people, if we have 70% installed capacity, the supply can continue to grow, we must plan the use of dollars and reserves, it is not just a question of the market “, he said Batakis in an interview on C5N in which he acknowledged “tensions” due to the strong demand for foreign currency.

The official devoted much of the day to advancing the transition, which involved a meeting of over four hours with the President, another with the head of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce, and also with his predecessor, Martín Guzmán. In the afternoon he was sworn in together with the President at Casa Rosada and, in the evening, he met Pesce again, together with the Minister of Productive Development, Daniel Scioli. Although he has already assembled his team, he will only announce it today.

During the interview, Batakis tried to calm down after a day in which the blue dollar reached $ 280 early to close at $ 260, online platforms collapsed in several banks due to the demand for dollar savings and the Central Bank had to do it sell $ 98 million. “The market is not a pipe dream, they are real people, they speculate, today was a special day for a vacation in the United States,” he said. Also, she said, due to the change in the economy.

However, he downplayed the impact of the blue and agreed with Pesce’s policy of keeping the dollar behind inflation. “The blue exchange is very marginal”, She said. And he stressed that “major operations are at the official exchange rate, which is on a path of equilibrium”. “I feel comfortable with that kind of change,” she added. And she warned: “We must avoid any speculation and that there is no market hit”.

The official landed in Economics supported by Cristina Kirchner, Daniel Scioli and the governors, after the sudden resignation of Guzmán and the apparent refusal of Martín Redrado, Marco Lavagna and Emmanuel Álvarez Agis to occupy the post. This broad support was reflected in the inauguration ceremony, which was attended by the cabinet, provincial leaders, key members of the Front of All, businessmen and trade unionists.

Among the main challenges ahead, Batakis yesterday identified inflation as one of them. Like Guzmán, he said it has multiple causes, but added that it is necessary “use the interest rate and new financial instruments”. And he indicated the reduction of the fiscal deficit, a phenomenon that Cristina Kirchner separated from inflation. “We cannot live in permanent deficit, we will achieve balance, but with the people inside,” she said.

After confirming the continuity of the economic program in the afternoon, the former Minister of Finance of Daniel Scioli and former Secretary of the Provinces of the Minister of the Interior Eduardo de Pedro, assured that this Tuesday he will communicate with the IMF and there will be a re-discussion goals. “The first quarter goal has been achieved, we understand the second too”, he has declared. “We will continue to monitor all variables, with each goal monitoring, new ones are established,” she added.

Another of the signals it sent was that it will move forward with the segmentation of energy subsidies, the implementation of which has been blocked in the Guzmán administration due to differences with the K wing of the Energy Secretariat. He also spoke out in favor of a recovery in income, underlining this “the salary is not inflationary”, stated that the universal base salary is something that has not been resolved in richer countries and has defended the unexpected income tax.