The former Minister of Economy Emmanuel Álvarez Agis He hardly questioned the economic direction of the libertarian government and assured that, despite the official discourse, The purchase of dollars is not profitable in the current context. In a television interview, the economist said that the monetary policy strategy is unclear and called the statements of President Javier Milei.
“Many times, when I listen to the president, I want to go buy dollars. But when I see what his economic team does, I realize that it would be a bad business,” said the economist in statements to A24.
Álvarez Agis remarked that, despite the libertarian slogans of the campaign, such as the proposal of dollarization or disqualification of the Argentine peso, the truth is that The best investment of the first year of government was a fixed period in local currency.
Criticism of monetary policy: “The dollar floats dirty”
Consulted on the exchange regime, the former official explained that The dollar does not float freelybut is subject to a strategy that described as “Dirty flotation”. As he explained, the government leads the exchange rate towards a new balance value gradually, to avoid a sharp price leap.
“The objective is that economic agents get used to living with a weaker weight. In this way, it seeks to cushion the negative effects of abrupt correction,” he argued.
He also ironized about the role of current economic officials: “Luckily, the forces of heaven hired two earthlings as Santiago Bausili and Luis Caputo To handle the economy, ”he said.
Dollars, mattress and exchange rate
In his analysis, Álvarez Agis said that the Government seeks that the dollars treasured by Argentines in the informal system will circulate again. However, he warned that this will not happen as long as the weight remains “a bad currency.”
“We saw this movie: everything seems cheap and people hurry to spend dollars, but Argentina does not generate currencies to the rhythm in which it consumes them,” he said.
Regarding the exchange rate, the economist said it was successful to locate it near $ 1,400instead of keeping it artificially low as in the previous correction. “It is healthier than at that level,” he said.
Emmanuel Álvarez Agis comparison with menemism
Álvarez Agis also compared the opening rate of the current economy with the lived during menemism. In his opinion, The current process is more intense and fastand warned that A commercial liberalization with a low exchange rate can damage the local industry.
“If the dollar is cheap and you open up, you destroy national production. But if it is high, at least you have some exchange protection,” he explained.
As a closure, the former Vice Minister assured that the government’s economic policy was designed to keep a dollar around $ 1,000. After more than a year of management, he valued that finally The Central Bank bought reservations againwhich considers a reasonable signal in this scheme.
Source: Ambito
