Alberto Fernández reported that the communication with his partner from Mexico took place on February 17 in the middle of his visit to Misiones. He said that there were immediate conversations with Luiz Inacio “Lula” Da Silva, from Brazil, Gustavo Petro, from Colombia, and Miguel Díaz-Canel, from Cuba, to interest them in the initiative and schedule the eventual summit next month. “We also agreed that in the meantime the ministers of each country would talk to each other. In my case I gave instructions to Santiago Cafiero (foreign minister) and Sergio Massa (Economy) to move forward in that line”, he detailed.
The participants in the possible regional agreement have in common not only degrees of ideological affinity but, above all, having increasingly suffered the scourge of inflation. Mexico, for example, closed 2022 with inflation of 7.82%, the highest in two decades, driven by food prices and also agricultural and energy inputs, a global constant due to the effects of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Brazil, for its part, registered 5.79% in the year with a marked slowdown compared to 10% in 2021 but well above the 3.5% goal set by the Central Bank. Colombia, meanwhile, marked 13.1%, the highest rate in 23 years, and Cuba reached 39 percent.
Argentina had an inflationary peak of 94.8 percent in 2022, the highest record since 1991, pushed by the rise in the prices of food and beverages and clothing, in particular. The President declared himself enthusiastic about the initiative devised by López Obrador, noting that in addition to uniting most of the regional gross product, The countries called upon to sign the agreement bring together a vast network of food, energy and manufacturing productionswith the addition that it is not essential that they resort to the dollar as an exchange currency.
Regarding the progress of the economy, Fernández said he analyzed the general situation “with great optimism, without failing to see the social problems” derived from the rise in prices. Although he admitted that the next measurement of poverty may show, for the second semester of 2022, an increase compared to the previous period (this last record is 36.5% of the population), he maintained that the volume of public works and, in particular, , of that related to water and sanitation, should reflect an improvement in these values despite the economic consequences of the war in Europe.
“This week we are going to inaugurate a water purification plant that will provide sewage service to 100% of the inhabitants of Morón. The work has been pending since it was signed in 1988 by the then mayor, Juan Carlos Rousselot, and Mauricio Macri ”, he advanced. Fernández referred to an agreement signed in December of that year between the three times elected and twice dismissed communal chief of Morón (1987-89 and 1991-99) and the then representative of his father’s Sideco firm, Franco Macri , beneficiary of the work by direct award, without competition.
Source: Ambito
