The secretary of International Economic Relations, Cecilia Todesca Bocco, said on Tuesday that the growth “This year it will be around 10% after three years of recession, which is good news, and we are already 2.8% above the level of December 2018. “
In parallel, the Foreign Ministry official stated that the Government “works for the recovery of reserves”, and in that sense he remarked that for this year “We already have a trade surplus of around US $ 13.9 billion, and it is a significant number.”
The agreement with the Fund
In addition, at a press conference at the Casa Rosada, Todesca Bocco said that the Government plans to face the payment of US $ 1,892 million to the International Monetary Fund, on December 18.
“Of course Argentina has the tensions in the external sector that are already known. Yes, the idea is to make the payment that you mention”he pointed out in response to a journalist’s question.
The secretary, in a press conference after participating in a meeting of the Economic Cabinet headed by President Alberto Fernández at the Casa Rosada, also said that “work is being done on the multi-year plan and with the Monetary Fund,” as the first leader.
“We would like to reach the best possible agreement in the shortest possible time. That is our goal. It is a major negotiation and when everything is ready we will send it to Congress, “he highlighted.
“We would like to reach the best possible agreement in the shortest possible time.”
As for a journalistic version of a Russian Saudi financing of the debt, Todesca Bocco rejected it and instead said that they are talking with both countries about “productive exports and investments”, within the framework of a “very important agenda.”
Upon the “modification in the financing for the purchase of packages and tickets abroad”, said: “what we do is take care of the reserves to have enough dollars to continue growing. That is our objective.”
“At the same time that we said that we cannot subsidize trips abroad in fixed installments in pesosWe did make some modifications so that entrepreneurs can make advance payments for the machinery they need to produce, “he said.
Todesca Bocco insisted that the Government “He does not want to punish anyone, on the contrary, what he cannot do is finance in pesos at a fixed rate because we would be giving a subsidy to a sector of the population that does not require it.”
The meeting, held in the Eva Perón Room, was also attended by the Chief of Staff, Juan Manzur, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero; the ministers of Economy, Martín Guzmán; of Productive Development, Matías Kulfas; and of Work, Claudio Moroni; the Secretary of Strategic Affairs, Gustavo Beliz; the head of the AFIP, Mercedes Marcó del Pont and -by videoconference- the president of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce.
“Basically, the performance of the economy and a set of variables that seem very relevant to us were reviewed”said the official at the beginning of the press conference, and stressed that “we see a strong recovery in economic activity.”
Growth
In this regard, he pointed out that Minister Guzmán said that “we are around 10% GDP growth this year, and this is a very relevant figure because we come from three consecutive years of decline, so that growing 10 points this year is very good news. “
Todesca Bocco explained that “Growth is driven by consumption, investment and the external sector, and this is also very good.”
“Investment will be growing around 30%, we have to wait for the data, but that indicates that more investment is achieved when there is demand,” he said.
Likewise, he pointed out that the industry “has recovered a lot and that is very important because it is a traction to other sectors and also pays good salaries in general and we are already 8.1 above 2019.”
He also said that “a very important recovery of the national production is seen” and, in this regard, he argued that Minister Kulfas gave “very important numbers such as the patenting of agricultural machinery”, a sector in which “73% is of national origin.”
Meanwhile, he indicated that “54% of car patents are of national origin”, and added: “that matters to us because these industries drive other industries and that is what ultimately generates employment.”
About job recovery, “he explained that “It is also good and we have 10 consecutive months of increase in private salaried employment.”
Regarding one of the tasks of the Government in a pandemic, Todesca Bocco expressed that “the first job was to turn the suspensions since we had a very important amount as a result of the pandemic, around 600 thousand workers with suspensions, and they turned “.
“Those workers – he specified – did not lose their jobs and now they receive their full salary, that is the first thing after the pandemic, and on that we have recovered from the lowest point about 140 thousand jobs and I am talking about the sector sector private registered “.
In parallel, he explained that in industrial employment “we have 42,000 more jobs than in 2019, and we have industries such as software that are generating about 1,000 / 1,100 jobs per month.”
Regarding construction, he stated that the numbers “are also very good with 3.2 above 2019, and we have the level of permits to build that is the highest in the last five years and this is important in terms of employment” .
The Foreign Ministry official, on the external sector, remarked that “we have a year with a very important recovery of exports that grew by 39%, around 40%, at the same time as imports that have grown around 50%. % “.
“We are – he assured – at a level of exports close to 6 billion a month when in 2019 we were around 4 thousand. And this is logical because when the economy is growing, when this happens we need to import a lot of inputs.”
