Serge Massa entered this Wednesday as a new and influential Minister of Economy Argentinaand ratified the budget deficit reduction target agreed with IMFan organization with which he had a “productive” meeting while at the same time devoting himself to fighting rampant inflation.
“We’re going to hit the target of 2.5% of the primary budget deficit (ndlr: before interest on the debt). We’re going to make all the necessary adjustments to live up to the word,” he said. Weight at his first press conference since President Alberto Fernandez was sworn in.
Reducing the public finance deficit – red in 2021 was equivalent to 3% of GDP – has been compromised Argentina in a $44 billion loan agreement signed this year with IMF. The targets also call for a reduction in the deficit to 1.9% of GDP in 2023 and 0.9% in 2024.
“We had our first meeting with IMFproductive to continue the planned payments” in the program, said Weight.
Weight He stressed that the government will stop using the issue of money to close the gap in public finances. “This mechanism weakens the peso and fuels inflation.”
“We are not going to ask for more issue money from central bank”, he said, after several weeks of widening gap between the official exchange rate and the parallel, unofficial or “blue” (139 pesos per dollar and 298 pesos per dollar at the end of the day, respectively).
“Poverty Factory”
The new minister vowed to fight inflation, which he called “the greatest factory of poverty” in the country.
Argentina has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, at 36.2% in the first half of 2022. Poverty reaches 37% of the 47 million inhabitants.
“Inflation is one of the main problems that needs to be dealt with. The month that ends (July) and the one that begins (August) will be the most difficult in terms of inflation, and from now on we are going to go through a downward Curve, suggested.
WeightThe 50-year-old lawyer who just stepped down as president Chamber of Deputiesconcentrates under his team the merger of three portfolios: Economy, industrial development, agriculture and animal husbandry.
But before those who call him a “super minister,” he warned: “I am not a super nobody, a magician or a savior. I’m very dedicated to my work.”
political profile
The swearing-in ceremony, which took place a few hours earlier, was attended by political leaders, representatives of the business community, as well as trade unions.
High political status Weight and his weight in the ruling coalition ahead of all (center-left Peronism) earned him support Fernandez and Vice President Cristina Kirchner, whose disagreements with the president in recent months have rattled the economy.
“We needed a strong figure who could convey to society and economic agents what they agreed on,” he told AFP. Hernan LetcherDirector Center for Argentine Political Economy.
fundraising
Weight replaces the economist Silvina Batakiswho has not worked even a month in the position. This official took office on an emergency basis after an untimely resignation Martin Guzmandebt refinancing architect and who served as minister Economy since the assumption Fernandez in December 2019
“Argentina it is a country with resources, in the process of development, not a rich country. We all need to create wealth,” he stressed at his conference.
The minister faces another central challenge: boosting dwindling international reserves, which analysts say are at critical levels. His bet to achieve this is to increase foreign exchange earnings from the exports of the Argentine manufacturing sector.
The new minister announced an agreement with exporters on advance sales in search of about $ 5 billion, which will go into the treasury of the Central Bank in the next 60 days.
His plan to get the Argentine economy off the ground is the third of Latin Americaincludes a greater use of its energy resources, especially gas and shale oil, as well as lithium, as well as an increase in agricultural production, the country’s main source of foreign exchange.
(According to AFP)
Source: RPP
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