BUENOS AIRES- Argentine President Javier Milei vindicated on Tuesday the adjustment plan that he has applied since he came to power in December and estimated that Inflation has continued to slow and in February it will be around 15%.
The president stated before agricultural producers gathered at the Expoagro agro-industrial fair “that there is a consensus reached that the indicator for the month of February will be around 15%, almost five points less than in January.”
The price increase in December was 25.5% and in January it was 20.6%, while the year-on-year increase reached 254.2%. The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses will report the February rate next week.
Inflation is the main concern of Argentines, according to opinion polls. Within the framework of its plan, the Milei government carried out a devaluation of the peso of more than 50%
Milei implemented a deregulation of prices that were controlled and eliminated subsidies to certain sectors such as public transportation and energy.
The president defends the adjustment and highlighted that in January state spending was reduced by 30% and in February by 36%.
The president also told journalists after his speech to agricultural producers in the town of San Nicolás, in the province of Buenos Aires, that his government hopes to lift the restrictions that exist in the exchange market in the middle of the year once it manages to clean up the the balance sheet of the Central Bank.
Milei maintains that the government of Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) left negative net international reserves of 11 billion dollars and that his government has managed to add about 9 billion.
In Argentina Restrictions apply to the free purchase of foreign currency due in part to the liquefaction of reserves that has occurred in recent years. Different types of dollar rates operate in the market, depending on economic activity, and savers turn to the parallel dollar—in which there are no restrictions—to buy the currency that is currently officially quoted at about 864 pesos per unit.
It is only allowed, and with some limitations, to acquire 200 dollars per month at the official exchange rate.
According to the president, once the exchange market opens, the economy will begin to recover.
Source: AP
