The 10 definitions of Silvina Batakis that give clues to her plan of action

Dollar, devaluation and stocks; imports and exports; expenses abroad; the relationship with the field; the IMF; and the team that will accompany him. The Minister of Economy has left a trail of definitions and thus he traced part of what will be its management.

In addition, he invited people to travel more to Argentina, in this crusade to take care of the scarce good: the dollars. “The right to travel collides with the generation of jobs”, he said in this regard, while excluding that they will impose more restrictions on the acquisition of the greenback.

Dollar, tourism, reserves and stocks

“The right to travel collides with the generation of jobs”, the Economy Minister’s definition made noise because it automatically emphasized the possibility of adding restrictions to the dollar. The minister herself, however, denied the initiative (albeit with a certain lukewarmness). However, she insisted on the need to generate a context that discourage the release of the North American currency. “Everyone has the right to holidays abroad, but we have to manage the bookings,” he said.

Taxativa underlined: “When one buys abroad and those dollars are actually the dollars that should have gone (precisely because they were scarce) to the productive sector, what we are doing is damaging the future of all Argentines “. However, he made it clear that this does not mean that they will impose new restrictive measures.

“We have to manage the reserves so that there are many more dollars, so that the country grows and that they turn to production. Everyone has the right to vacation, but we must also invite them on holiday in the countryside. We have the World Cup in the middle and this will require a lot of currency “, he said last night during the dialogue he had with Marcelo Bonelli on the TN channel.

you will not devalue

“The dollar is embedded in many prices for goods and services. When looking at the multilateral exchange rate, it is competitive and there is no reason to devalue. We will have a trade balance record, but we are not in a risky situation, “she shared.

“There is no reason to devalue“He said. And he added:” People found in the dollar the preservation of their savings, but made it clear that today “the dollar is a scarce resource and it must be at the service of the production matrix“.

“We do not see any expectations of devaluation, except for the exchange runs that the previous minister had to go through. Things that shouldn’t happen,” he said. In that sense, he praised the BCRA, “in these three days we have seen that the Central Bank knows how to manage the situation ”.

imports

In relation to the problems to be imported, the minister remarked that “Every growing economy needs to import. Argentina is a developing country that has a complex production matrix, with a thriving agricultural sector that is on the frontier of knowledge, but we also have an industrial sector that must continue to expand and in the face of that we need those imports. “.

And he added: “Historically, every time GDP grows by one point, imports grow by 3 points and what has happened in recent months is that these imports have grown above that historical mark, which shows that there is an advance of these imports but has no restrictions in any way to be able to operate. Today the companies are exhausted, they have modernized the capital, which is very positive because it puts us in a position to be able to produce more and better “.

Inflation and new price agreement

Avoiding an inflationary spiral in Argentina is one of the most urgent tasks Batakis, whose initial definitions of how to deal with accelerating prices are not very different from those of his predecessor.

In relation to the economy of domestic consumption, inflation and price control, yesterday Batakis assured that in the coming days there will be a new basket of Care Prices goods and services and meetings with the price makers.

“We will seek an agreement with the price makers but the important thing is to find a solution. There is a situation of uncertainty and we are working with a basket of goods and services that we will announce in the coming days ”, assured the new Minister.

And in this sense I clarify: “Price control is another mechanism for controlling inflation but there are other tools that need to be long-term, such as investment in infrastructure. In no way can we say that we are in a risky situation ”.

Negotiations with the IMF

“The agreement is signed. The first quarter is approved and the second is under evaluation. The IMF looks at the international context “said the minister.

On Wednesday, as announced the day before, Batakis finally spoke on the phone with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva. This was stated by the Minister of Economy “The meeting was very nice” and what will be there “Continuity of that agreement we recently signed with the IMF”.

When asked about the possibility of renegotiating the debt with the international organization, he said “I wouldn’t talk about renegotiation. But yes, the IMF continuously looks at the international context and how it affects each of the countries in which they have signed a contract ”.

Tax deficit

In relation to the agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund, Silvina Batakis ratified the guidelines on the fiscal deficit left by Martín Guzmán: “That hasn’t changed in any way.”

These goals agreed with the international credit organization imply anticipate a greater adjustment of real spending by 7.8% per annum in the second half of 2022.

Tariff segmentation

Batakis has assured that he will continue with the rate segmentation plan devised by Martín Guzmán at the request of the IMF. “We are working with the decree on behalf of the President” and the same criteria that differentiate three bands.

In this sense, he reconfirmed the continuity of officials in the Energy area, linked to Christianity: “The Energy team remains, there is no change there”. Furthermore, the minister confirmed that he will announce part of the team on Thursday.

Relationship with the field

“There will be no increase in withholding taxes”, he said during the interview in A Dos Voces. However, the idea of ​​moving forward with the “windfall gains from the war-led Russian-Ukrainian hike in grain prices” flew.

Batakis praised the campaign: “The agricultural sector is fundamental to the Argentine economy, it is competitive and it is at the frontier of knowledge”. Later he also stated: “We need it to produce more, be more efficient and liquidate its currencies ”.

For Batakis, agriculture “is very competitive this year it is providing resources at extraordinary levels“. He added that “there are still liquidations of ‘grain reserves’, because there are dense and thin harvest periods that have their cycles.” Furthermore, she said she was convinced that the field will continue to contribute dollars to the economy throughout the year.

Social plans and universal basic salary

As for the social plan debate, which is so booming these days, Batakis anticipated that there is a “Multiplicity of plans and subsidies” that the Government is “analyzing, to channel them efficiently”.

YN