In the last few hours Sergio Massa announced that he will convene the Liaison Table “in the coming days” to propose a follow-up of the sector throughout the quarter, region by region, to see “the damage to Argentine producers”. He also reiterated the importance of the commitment of businessmen, workers and the State in the goal of reducing inflation and valued the importance of gaining access to credit for both companies and consumers.
In an interview with infobaewas asked about the statements of former president Mauricio Macri for whom the current government is leaving “bombs” that will explode in the next administration, Massa replied that “The only bomb that the Argentine economy has is the one represented by Macri’s agreement with the IMF, a bomb that must be managed and that in some way limited the growth capacity of the Argentine economy”.
“The agreement with the Fund was used by the previous government to finance capital flight and not to build hospitals, bridges, to develop construction, for technological development. In other words, they financed the outflow of money to accounts in the United States or in other countries. And the truth is that this is very bad for our economy,” he recalled.
He also pointed out that what is important in terms of the “debts that pass from one government to another” is that “we have the ability to be serious, because it is people’s savings that form part of the public debt, whether in Treasury bonds or Leliqs, which are neither more nor less than what you put in the fixed-term bank transformed into a savings instrument of the Central Bank”.
Regarding the drought and the situation of the agro-industrial sector, he indicated that in the coming days he will convene the Liaison Table to propose a 90-day follow-up “sector by sector and economy by economy, looking at the satellite maps of rainfall, looking at the satellite maps of the INTA of soil moisture, and comparing drop in profitability 2022 against 2023”.
He also assured that measures will be taken to improve the competitiveness of regional economies. “The first thing to look at is the damage to Argentine producers,” the minister remarked to point out that in the case of wheat, the forecasts spoke of a harvest of between 9 and 11 million tons. “and the SISA, the final report gives 14.7 million; although it is not what Argentina can produce, it is not so dramatic, neither in economic terms, nor in terms of supplying the internal market.”
Finally, the official explained: “Flour, in farinaceous foods, in foods linked to the wheat value chain has an impact. Regarding second-rate soybeans, it is clear that we have a soil moisture problem in some regions. I would like to follow the rain map day by day.”
