Sergio Massa and his team advance in measures against the fiscal deficit, while the unknown factor of his deputy minister continues

Serge Massa faced an atypical Sunday. With his brand new officials and councilors in communion with the Renewal Front, the Minister of Economy – portfolio extended to Production and Agriculture – held a working meeting lasting seven hoursin his Buenos Aires offices on Libertador 800. In the conclave, steps were taken in measures against the fiscal deficit, while the question remains as to who will be his deputy minister.

The idea of ​​the Massa team is there launch a measure every day in an effort to relieve financial stress. In this sense, they aim to lower the deficit and try to increase reserves.

One measure upon departure is the resolution you left ready Mercedes Marco del Pont so that the companies who have had unexpected profits due to the higher prices due to the war in Ukraine advance this tax plus in three installments.

It reaches around 1,900 signatures and this year they would pay what would correspond to the next. There is no certain calculation, even if we are talking about 200,000 million dollars. It is assured that it will be known this week.

Of course, this can cause cracks in the negotiations they are conducting to inflate reserves with the grain, mining and oil companies.

This Monday, in fact, the Secretary of Agriculture receives the fisheries sector, which has promised 300 million dollars, an important figure for the sector but small for the ambition of obtaining 5,000 million dollars. There are also negotiations with producers, such as peanuts and other developments in regional economies.

On the same day, the Treasury will return $ 10 billion to the Central Bank. This means that, as announced, it will not borrow money from the Central Bank to finance itself, which has caused more emissions and inflation.

Another measure is the voluntary exchange of debt for pesos. They assure them that they would have already accepted 65%, although most are official organizations.

All this while it is not yet clear who will be the second of Massa in Economics, after the question mark surrounding the announced and then denied Gabriel Rubinstein.

A seven-hour meeting in the Massista bunker

The twenty participants in the active day of an unusual Sunday in the massist bunker absorbed the minister’s roadmap, which he anticipated this Saturday in a leafy message thread on Twitter.

At different times various officials of the Economy – some recently appointed with the hiring of Massa – and also of the Central Bank, AFIP – now in the hands of the the tough Kirchnerist Carlos Castagneto– and INDEC.

Indeed, Marco Lavagnahead of the statistical agency, he is known as one of Massa’s trusted advisors and as such was present at the meeting along with other consultants such as Raúl Pérez, Gustavo Martínez Pandiani and William Michaelhead of customs and relegated piece in the internal dispute that has lost massism Cristina Kirchner around the control of AFIP.

However, after the hustle and bustle of naming Gabriel Rubinstein second in Economics – which was interrupted due to the economist’s critical tweets against the president, Cristina Kirchner and Massa himself – that position remains in a veil of mystery and indefiniteness.

This Sunday’s meeting with their troops will serve as a prelude to another scheduled for next Tuesday: that day the minister will receive the heads of the ministries’ administration to inform them about the impact of the adjustment.

“We have made an appointment for Tuesday to all those responsible for the administration of the ministries to give them the programming until the end of the year, so that they know investment priorities and expenditure ceilings“Massa announced Saturday on his Twitter account in a thread in which his team worked most of Saturday and which included” a report on these first 48 hours “at the head of the ministry.

Sergio Massa’s report

The report that was the axis of this Sunday’s meeting provides, among other things, that there will be no more issues for financing until the end of the year, as it sets limits on staff recruitment in all sectors of public administration.

In the field of subsidies, consumption limits will be added to the segmentation to promote resource savings and a more progressive subsidy system that will take into account a federal criterion with understanding of the climate. With these measures they hope to save 500 billion pesos a year.

Also in the field of energy, Massa has proposed to increase exports of hydrocarbons in the context of the global energy crisis.

Negotiations have begun with gas producers to provide gas services to the Argentine coast and export to Brazil.

In the extensive Twitter thread, the minister reported that 722 companies have been notified of their takeover Under-invoicing mechanisms for exports and over-invoicing of imports to the detriment of the state 1 billion dollars.

The Credit Program will be launched to promote exports among SMEs and there will be incentives for the fishing sector.

In the field of program with credit bureaus A contract will be signed with the CAF Agenda and job interviews will be held with the IDB for the Disbursement Program. And together with the Industry, BICE and Banco Nación areas, the Create Argentine Credit program will be launched.

On a social level, there will be meetings with ANSES to define the bonus to retirees without affecting the order of accounts. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Development will present how audits and job training programs, tools for vulnerable sectors, the formalization of the social economy and the Bridge to Employment program will work.

Finally, together with the Knowledge Economy Secretariat and more than 20 universities across the country, a virtual program with international standards will be launched to transform the talent of our young people into work.

News in development.

ds