Alberto Fernandez He continues to make people talk with his diagnoses about the economic direction of the country. In a context where your Minister from Economy Martin Guzman is severely questioned by the wing Kirchnerist of the Government, the President affirmed before the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME) who sees a “big economic growth”. The president’s statements were not generally well received and he it rained the critics.
In his speech at the CAME Annual Assembly, the head of state reviewed the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy and insisted on blaming Mauricio Macri’s management for the loss of value of real wages. “We have imposed on ourselves the duty that salaries restore the level of what was lost in the previous four years. It is difficult, but we are determined to do it, as we want pensions to be above inflation”, he remarked.
And as a response to criticism from both the opposition and within the ruling party itself, Fernández said: “We have an economic program where production is one of the issues that concerns us. That, thank God, is working well because the economy continues to grow, production continues to increase and installed capacity is used more and more”.
But the President did not stop there, but redoubled the bet against the side that responds to the vice president Cristina Kirchner in that the reactivation does not reach the middle and lower strata since there is a lack of redistribution. “What worries the Government the most is how to distribute the income of the economy,” said Fernandez, who in turn admitted “a problem with prices in Argentina.”
Above all things, the president emphasized his defense of Guzmán. He thus expressed it: “The results are in sight. The growth is very great, the recovery of employment is real, consumption grows. We have to fight the third link, which is inflation, and we all have to work hard so that it doesn’t become a gain for a few and a loss for many.”
“On the contrary”
The statements of the head of state before the CAME generated great controversy on social networks. To such an extent that the national deputy for Together for Change Soher El Sukaria He stated: “We do not know what is more serious, if what he says he says with conviction or lies blatantly. The truth, Mr. President, that we are neither growing nor recovering. Rather the complete opposite”.
Different users used their criticism, such as @DuarteMati, who wrote: “In what world does Alberto Fernández live? Who writes the script? The President teases the people. This parallel reality in which this man lives, angers society. For his part, @funesbeto quoted the President’s main phrase and contrasted it with a meme alluding to the consumption of barbecue.
With a more heated and critical tone, @Elmago47 remarked: “Today as always, the Bipolar clown at the CAME conference continued to sell smoke.” “According to the bipolar clown we are 10, absolute growth and the war is winning!!”, he shot, and asked him: “Alverso stop selling smoke until you fell asleep in your war”, alluding to the one declared by himself Fernández “war against inflation”.
Ceruti’s defense
On the other hand, it should be noted that this Thursday the official spokesperson Gabriela Cerruti came out to minimize the criticism about it coming from The Campora. The thing is Andres ‘Crow’ Larroquealigned to Maximo Kirchner, came out to question Guzmán saying that “no one chose him.” To tone down the discussion a bit, the presidential spokeswoman stated that they are “opinions.”
“They are opinions. We take them as opinions and we do not comment on opinions,” said Cerruti, noting that Argentina is experiencing “a moment of unprecedented growth, perhaps the highest in Latin America.” “The Government is focused on sustaining growth and that it be with redistribution at a time when after the pandemic and due to the war (Russia-Ukraine) there is a shock regarding redistribution in the world, which is becoming increasingly more unfair,” he explained.
In this same line, Cerruti remarked: “That is the axis of the Government’s policy today, that is what we are focused on and that is what we are working on.” And he concluded: “The Government is focused on management, on work, on sustaining an economy that is growing.” The spokeswoman responded not only to Larroque, but also to the national senator Juliana Di Tullio.
JP Morgan’s Adverse Diagnosis
Contrary to Fernandez’s words, J. P. Morgan estimated in a recent report that the program of the Argentina with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “needs to be urgently recalibrated to offer structural anchors that contain inflation expectations and prevent the economy from falling into a proto-hyperinflationary scenario.”
The financial entity anticipated that the inflation in April it will continue to be high and will be above 5% (that of March was 6.7% and would remain at that standard), based on the impulse that has been marking the rise in food. Meanwhile, for the entire current calendar, the bank projects an inflation of 67%, with an inertia exacerbated by the advancement of parity in some sectors, which will boost the salary costs of companies.
The estimate does not contemplate additional adjustments in the rates of public services that may be applied by the National government. Likewise, JP Morgan remarks that “without a determined fiscal consolidation effort, the additional supply of pesos included in the IMF program will further de-anchor inflation expectations.”
In turn, the investment bank predicted a strong deterioration of the Argentine economy, from the increase in inflation and greater energy restrictions. In this sense, he assures that for the first three months of the year the improvement in GDP would be 5% compared to the previous year, but this second quarter will be much more complicated, since it projects a strong drop of 4.5% year-on-year.
