President Alberto Fernandez He was finalizing, together with the economic team, in Quinta de Olivos, details of the measures that are expected to be announced as of 7:00 p.m., official sources reported.
After his return from the province of Tucumán, the head of state dedicated himself to working on the details of his presentation, recorded, to be broadcast.
The President worked in Olivos together with the Minister of Economy, Martin Guzman; Productive Development, Matias Kulfas; that of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing, Julian Dominguez; and the head of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesceamong other officials of the national Cabinet.
The measures that will have as their main axis contain rising inflation in an international context of strong volatility in the prices of commodities, energy and food, they will be announced hours after Congress approved the law that supports the Extended Facilities Program to be concluded between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund.
Look forward
On Thursday night, the national government passed the “self-imposed” legislative test of having submitted to Congress the agreement reached to refinance the debt of more than 44 billion dollars with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and, as the President Alberto Fernández, with the “clearer horizon” will face what remains until the 2023 elections seeking to normalize public accounts.
While waiting for the message to be broadcast in which economic announcements are expected, the head of state led an act from Tucumán where he stated that the country is “coming out of problems”.
“First of the debt with private creditors and yesterday we began to resolve the debt with the IMF. Debt that we inherited and that surely if we had been governing we would not have taken it. But they are problems that we have to solve,” said Fernández in his speech.
The president maintained that his government “has left everything” to solve these “received” difficulties, although he lamented that these achievements are being “forgotten after five minutes”.
“We, who were born Peronists, when a problem appears, what we do is put our chests out and face itbut I want all Argentines to do the same and we can do it, we are beginning a stage where meetings must be common and not exceptional,” he remarked in the most political fragment of his message.
Meanwhile, a logic of priorities prevails in the teams of the Ministry of Economy that leads Martin Guzmanwho on repeated occasions has maintained as the final objective the need to “normalize the national accounts” after reaching an agreement with private funds and now with the IMF.
The setting a limit on Treasury fundingseeking positive interest ratesthe gradual reduction of the fiscal deficitall objectives of the agreement with the IMF, are steps in that direction and they hope in the Government that they can serve to contain expectations.
In fact, in the Casa Rosada some maintain that the mention of a “war against inflation” by the President a few days ago should be understood as that “next step” to be taken after having practically closed the foreign debt chapter.
By instruction of the president @alferdez we have worked with commitment with the members of the cabinet, governors of the provinces, legislators and legislators to obtain that the Congress validates the best possible agreement with the International Monetary Fund. pic.twitter.com/nhTNziPGln
– Juan Manzur (@JuanManzurOK) March 18, 2022
“Today we can say that we have overcome one of the main problems inherited from the previous administration and that we are in a position to continue rebuilding Argentina with development and inclusion, so that we can all live better,” said the Chief of Staff, John Manzurvia Twitter.
Meanwhile, on Thursday night, it was the Guzmán who once again defended the agreement as the tool to avoid a default that would have implied “adjustment, fall in production and employment”.
The head of Economy also highlighted the “political” support expressed in a multiparty approval of the agreement, a “self-imposed” legislative test, which “is not celebrated” and which “will be quickly left behind” according to the qualification of some members of the Front of All ( FdT).
In fact, the chancellor santiago cafiero He assured this Friday that now “the implementation of an agenda is coming” to “change people’s lives.”
“The negotiation that was reached is the best possible, it is the one that does not limit our growth and allows us to continue recovering because Argentina is very low, since we came from three consecutive years of recession and only in 2021 were we able to grow,” he remarked. the foreign minister defending the understanding reached with the international organization.
In this sense, Cafiero added: “We have to continue growth in order to reduce poverty, so default was not the alternative. Now comes the challenge of implementing an agenda that will change people’s lives and they can actually be better off next year.”
For her part, the spokesperson for the Presidency, Gabriela Cerutialso went in the same direction when stating that once the IMF issue is overcome, the Government has “margin” to focus on “macroeconomic variables” such as inflation, since “that is what matters to citizens today” .
