The next Minister of Economy if Bullrich wins the presidency asked that Milei and Massa present their economic programs. He called Milei’s phrases “fantasies and slogans” and said that Massa cannot be both minister and candidate.
The Economist Carlos Melconianelected as Minister of Economy in case Patricia Bullrich became president with Together for Change, he anticipated what the first months of 2024 will be like in economic matters: with higher initial inflation as a result of a “rearrangement” of relative prices. Regarding the electoral transition, he considered that there could be another devaluation jump after the general elections if China does not enable another section of the swap, and he mentioned that the candidate for president of Unión por la Patria, Sergio Massashould leave the position of Minister of Economy for having “contradictory objectives.”
This was stated before more than 300 executives at the closing of the annual convention of the Argentine Institute of Finance Executives (IAEF), in which Ámbito participated. Despite the bad news, the economist was the most applauded of all the speakers who attended the two-day meeting in Puerto Madryn, province of Chubut. It is that although executives consulted by this newspaper have ideas similar to those preached by Javier Milei, from La Libertad Avanza, related to the role of the State, there is “maximum uncertainty” because it is the unknown, they doubt the governability and the possibility of establishing consensus.
Asked about his first measures if he reaches the fifth floor of the Palacio de Hacienda, Melconian stated that he will implement the plan that they wrote from the Mediterranean Foundation, which has three chapters: one related to macroeconomics, another to a reform of the State and another to an “unclogging of the private sector.” In addition, he said that there are a “dozen laws” that will go to Congress.
Regarding the first measure, he stated: “We are going to coexist for the first time managing relative prices, which include salaries with some heterodox issues, tariffs and exchange rates. It is a program of timeless stability, it does not have a second semester.” Furthermore, he warned about the impact: “Initially the inflation rate is not going to go down, because it will also include the inertia of what was coming. It is absolutely incorrect to talk about the inflation rate of 2024, it does not exist. Because at some point in 2024 what is going to matter is the drastic reduction in inflation.”
Along these lines, he added: “We are telling the truth to people. He exhausted the ‘if I tell them what I do, they won’t vote for me.'” For this reason, Melconian asked Milei and Massa to show their economic programs. De Milei assured: “The dollarization and chainsaw fantasy is over, not even the hard core no longer believes his program, which says it goes from 20 months to 35 years.” But he was much harsher with Massa.
Melconian revealed that in his meeting alone with the vice president, Cristina Kirchner, in 2022, they agreed that removing former minister Martín Guzmán and putting Massa in his place would allow them to “save the B team, cross the shore and prevent it from relegating.” However, he considered that this changed with the designation of being the presidential candidate: “It borders on irresponsibility, because they are contradictory objectives.” And he added: “It cannot happen that in this last stage after PASO the minister is also a candidate, because he is leaving a disaster.”
Melconian criticized Massa’s latest measures: “The entire Country tax charged on imports that was to reduce the monetary issue is going to be raffled off with the latter going to the sidelines of the reformatting of public spending. The minister left, the candidate remained, and that aggravates the situation until October.”
Asked about the economy in the electoral transition, he answered that he sees it “worse than a while ago.” Although he stated that the official dollar at $350 is at a level that is not backward, but that the problem is the 11% monthly inflation. “If he can last two and a half months, on October 23 he will be in worse trouble than on August 14. She found a way around it with something that could be banned, because I don’t know if there will be a second tranche of yuan. “We run the risk of the same thing happening again that happened at 10 in the morning the day after the primaries when it devalued.”
In addition, he criticized Massa’s decision to postpone the payment of imports and revealed one of the measures planned for commercial debt in the event of eliminating the stocks: “If we have to govern, we are going to give different treatment to imports flowing from the of the stock.” Another detail that he revealed is who will make up his economic team. “I’m going to keep Enrique Szewach very close,” he stated, in a nod to what would be something like his vice-minister of Economy.
Source: Ambito
