The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Massa, recalled that the Frente de Todos (FdT) “did not bring the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Argentina”, but rather former president Mauricio Macri resorted to the credit agency because his government ” had lost confidence on the part of the financial markets”.
“The FdT did not bring the IMF to Argentina and now it must restructure the debt. Macri took the path of going to the Fund when on December 28, 2017 he changed the inflation budget goals and he did it because he had lost the confidence of the financial markets and investment funds, ”Massa told C5N.
Massa also recalled that the maturities of the agreement that Macri made with the IMF “were unpayable” and that is why the government of Alberto Fernández must “refinance that debt” through the agreement that this week obtained half a sanction in the lower house.
“We are not going to pay maturities until 2026. It is the first agreement signed with the IMF that does not ask for labor and pension reforms. There were opposition legislators who privately recognize that it is a good agreement”, he remarked.
Massa argued that Argentina “has had a recurring problem for 50 years” and that is that it obtains less for its exports than it has to invest for its imports, something that can be “corrected if the country invests in human capital to develop its intellectual services.”
“Last year we grew 10 GDP points and in 2022 we are going to do it by more than five”, considered the former chief of staff of Ministers.
The legislator described as “a brave decision” by President Alberto Fernańdez the presentation before Congress of the agreement with the IMF, and evaluated that in this way the Legislative Power “recovered its oversight role” in economic decisions.
“The opposition (Together for Change) repeated the script that the agreement was a bomb that we left for the next government. But this time they did not speak of a republic and it was because with this debate that we gave in Deputies we recovered the supervisory role that Congress should have in matters of economic policy, ”he based.
The leader of the Renovating Front also assured that “none” of the opposition leaders asked to exchange a vote in favor of the agreement with the IMF “in exchange for impunity” so that the debt that Macri took is not investigated.
“We are not going to pay maturities until 2026. It is the first agreement signed with the IMF that does not ask for labor and pension reforms. There were opposition legislators who privately recognize that it is a good agreement”
In relation to the incidents that occurred in Plaza Congreso and the stones that were thrown at the office of Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Massa affirmed that “there was a group that worked very skillfully” to provoke these events.
“In Plaza Congreso there were people who protested against the agreement and there was a group that worked very professionally. First they threw paint, marked the place and threw stones. As soon as I found out what had happened, I left the room and went to the Senate, ”he said.
In relation to Máximo Kirchner’s decision to renounce the ownership of the FdT block based on the differences he expressed in relation to the agreement with the IMF, the legislator considered that the main referent of La Cámpora had “an honest and responsible decision because he understood that he could not defend something with which he did not agree”.
“I prefer that the differences in a space be discussed inside doors, between four walls and then go out into society with unique signifiers to strengthen the contract we made in 2019. The opposition has deeper differences than ours, that we want a productive country and we reject financial speculation”, he stressed.
In relation to Macri, Massa evaluated that it conditions the position of JxC, but estimated that in the debate in Deputies “a victory was seen for the sectors” of the coalition that “wanted to give the government the possibility of solving a problem.”
