The new Secretary of Production, José Ignacio de Mendiguren, assured this Wednesday that the short-term objective of the new economic cabinet is to “stabilize the macroeconomic variables” and “recover the purchasing power of wages”, for which it is essential to lower inflation, a problem that they will tackle “with growth and with coordination of economic policies”.
In that sense, he said that the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, has “management capacity and political will” and that “he is aware” of the scenario of recent weeks in which, he assured, “it is very difficult to invest, (because) you cannot set prices or costs in a context in which inflation is accelerating.”
“Our great concern in the short term is to recover the purchasing power of wages. For this reason, we are going to attack the problem of inflation with growth and with policy coordination,” said De Mendiguren in dialogue with channel A24.
“Sergio is clear that this has to be calmed down. We all have to collaborate to stabilize the variables. It’s up to me to maintain the level of activity,” said De Mendiguren prior to Massa’s first presentation as minister in which he announced the first measures of its management.
“Our great concern in the short term is to recover the purchasing power of wages”
Although he acknowledged that there are “problems with the dollars,” he maintained that the level of activity is very high and that, for example, “the industrial parks are working at 69% of the installed capacity, that is a reality”.
And he added: “The most important thing today is to reassure the economy so that a cost structure can return. Today nobody knows how much they buy and how much they sell. Those who have do not want to sell because they do not know if there will be a devaluation or not.”
Lastly, he assured that Massa “is a person with courage, who is willing to act and not to balcony” since “theory is one thing and executing it is another thing, and Sergio has that: management capacity and political will”.
