The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, assured this Friday, in the framework of the IDEA Colloquium, that “politics has to give in and set an example of austerity, and businessmen also have to give up the benefits” they obtain from the State.
“We have to return to having twin surpluses” in the fiscal and commercial sphere, “together with a competitive exchange rate and the accumulation of reserves,” said Massa in a recorded video that was broadcast on the 58th. IDEA Colloquium, which was convened under the slogan “Give to grow”.
Massa, who is in Washington at the Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), apologized “for not being there, at the first Colloquium after the pandemic, back in Mar del Plata.”
“I would have liked to be,” he said.
“Argentina is a country with resources that has to be transformed into wealth”Serge Massa
In his statements, the Economy Minister highlighted the fiscal order as “fundamental” because “it is the path that provides predictability to the State, to citizens, and to the development of public policies.”
In this context, he highlighted that the profitability of state companies “It must be measured not only in economic terms, but also in its social role, but observing the fulfillment of these social goals.”
“If we don’t have gas, (from the State) we have to take it, but that requires investment” and that commitments be fulfilled, he asserted.
Massa stressed that “the best moments in Argentina in the last 20 years were when we had the twin surpluses (fiscal and commercial), with a competitive exchange rate and accumulation of reserves.”
In those years “there was a growth (of the economy) that allowed distributive improvements,” said the head of the Treasury Palace.
The economy minister also criticized the performance of Congress in the treatment of the Budget Lawwhich contains an addendum where legislators are asked to rule on tax expenditures equivalent to 4.9 percentage points of GDP, such as tax exceptions for judges, companies in the north of the country, or the promotion plan from Tierra del Fuego.
That initiative “was not discussed, it did not have greater relevance,” Massa said, and clarified that an eventual reduction in these expenses “would serve to reduce the fiscal deficit, not to assign it to other payments.”
Within this framework, and continuing with the slogan of the Colloquium, Massa stated that “politics has to give in and set an example of austerity, and businessmen also have to give up the benefits” they obtain from the State.
“We have a large amount of the economy under informality”
The Economy Minister was critical of the actions of a certain sector of the political class by stating that “we hunted in the zoo” in terms of tax collection.
“We have a large amount of the economy under informality,” said the minister, and also recalled that there is a portion of Argentines who have money in “tax havens” in the United States.
That’s why “We are finishing closing an agreement between the AFIP and the IRS”the fiscal entity of the United States, said the head of the Palacio de Hacienda about the automatic exchange of financial information.
“It is essential that we understand that the fiscal order is the path of predictability for the State, for the citizen with respect to their obligations to the State, and for the development of public policies,” said the minister.
Massa also referred to a key issue for businessmen: the stability of the rules of the game and the need for State policies linked to key sectors of the Argentine economy, and used as an example the energy policy and the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, which would allow “significant savings” in dollars and pesos.
The Economy Minister reiterated his idea that “Argentina is a country with resources that has to be transformed into wealth,” and highlighted the role of the energy sector, proteins, minerals and the knowledge economy as “the big four global players of the countries in the next ten years”.
In this sense, Massa affirmed that “this requires, in addition to regulations and fiscal stability, stability regarding investment and labor regulations. That we assume those sectors that are key to Argentina’s economic growth as a State policy.”
