Since his failed attempt to fire Undersecretary of Energy, Federico Basualdo, Martín Guzmán has been subjected to a Exhausting “friendly fire”. The criticisms have a common denominator: they blame the official for the failure of the “coordination” (prices, income, fees and dollars) and demand a different course, including a package of measures. In order to The field the minister has overprioritized the agenda with the IMF.
“At this time we must put money in the street and postpone decisions that one can consider reasonable, we must discuss the fiscal perspective in another way”, said the former Vice Minister of Economy, Roberto Feletti on radio AM 990. “Tensions and crises come from external weakness, the worst thing one can want to do is correct that external weakness with a fiscal adjustment that reduces activity.”
Guzmán proposed to bring the fiscal deficit to 4.5% or below that goal in 2021, as part of the agreement with the IMF. That goal approved in the Budget already included a spending cut. But the impact was greater due to inflation. While collection rose 15% annually in real terms in the first quarter, spending fell 4% and social benefits (pensions and allowances), 9%.
Despite the controls of the Ministry of Commerce, the 4.8% increase in the CPI in March destroyed the official guideline of 29% and left the CGT in an uncomfortable place, the only one – according to the minister himself – to respect the price and wage agreement. For that reason, the last joint companies began to close at around 35% and with double revision.
“The evolution of wages, losing against inflation, mark the main challenge we have in economic matters. Only with real wage growth will we be able to build a virtuous growth process that begins to heal the wounds of inequality and poverty, ”Kirchner deputy Fernanda Vallejos assured on Twitter.
In fact, K economists also do not expect wages to recover before October. “At this point, unfortunately it is destined to lose from here until the elections by closing parity around 35% with inflation that is hardly below 40%,” said the April report from the Scalabrini Ortiz Center for Economic and Social Studies. (CESSO).
The director of Banco Nación, Claudio Lozano, also warned in statements that “wages and pensions did not grow above prices.” And held that “Guzmán gives exaggerated priority to the agreement with the Fund”. Lozano heads the Institute of Thought and Public Policies (IpyPP), which this week proposed to modify the Budget to change the economic course.
Guzmán received another thrust from the ruling party in the Senate. That space approved this Thursday in committee a draft resolution pushed by Senator Oscar Parrilli for the minister to allocate the next shipment of US $ 4.3 billion from the Fund to combat the pandemic instead of paying debt.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/economists-k-accuse-martin-guzman-of-prioritizing-the-agenda-with-the-imf-and-the-adjustment/
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