Two days following obtaining the IMF’s endorsement of the agreement with the entity approved by Congress, and in a new sign of concern regarding the resurgence of inflation, the president Alberto Fernandez attacked the businessmen, whom he described as “devils who increase prices.” He assured that there will be no lack of gas in the winter, despite the restrictions shown by the energy sector, and relativized his differences with Cristina Kirchneralthough he acknowledged that he has not “spoke” with the vice president in recent times.
“I don’t want to get along with God and the devil,” the President defended himself in an interview with public television, although he said that there are “devils who increase prices and we have to make them see reason.” The President also said that there is “a self-constructed inflation that the way in which food production is concentrated has a lot to do with it; they must be called to reflection so that they understand that the fact that they have a kind of oligopoly does not authorize them to raise prices“, Held. After the presidential statement, at the Casa Rosada they argued that “self-constructed” inflation is “an economic theory” and that the “people” Fernández alluded to were referring to price makers.
“We are all waging a war once morest inflation, we have to decisively face the problem,” he added regarding the price increase. According to Fernández, the “devaluation risk disappeared” with the agreement with the IMF. And he stated that “now we have to address other problems of inflation that is self-constructed in people’s heads.”
“There is no possibility” that there will be no gas, the President affirmed. He added that “we are working” with the Minister of Economy, Martin Guzman, to ensure gas supply. Regarding the delay in the construction of the gas pipeline Nestor Kirchnerestimated that “the lack of agreement with the IMF was a problem to move forward, now the investments have been unleashed because the IMF has been fixed”, he maintained with an optimistic tone.
In relation to the rate increases, Fernández maintained that “the social rate is maintained,” and estimated that the hearings to apply the increases will begin in the first days of April.
Will it be renegotiated with the IMF? “What it says (Kristalina) Georgieva it is that we do not know how far the effects of the war reach (…) recalibrating may not be negative, it is something realistic and we have to tread carefully, “he said. In relation to that agreement, and at the beginning of the extensive report, Fernández said that Argentina took “the rope from its neck” by agreeing with the Fund, and said that it was “nothing soft” in the final discussion, which he addressed ” personally last week.
In relation to the rise in withholdings for soybean oil and flour, he maintained that “those points that we have raised are to compensate for internal prices, and it does not change the life of the countryside. There are some who they do not represent the fieldbut they have taken political-partisan positions”, he criticized.
Fernández appeared uncomfortable when the interview revolved around his tense relationship with the vice president. “I have not talked to her”acknowledged the President, who tried to communicate with Cristina Kirchner on March 10 to show solidarity for the attack on his offices in the Senate, without receiving a response. “These are issues that we will know how to resolve,” he said as a way of ending the matter. Regarding the internal one, he affirmed that it is “an issue that is finished”.
“Unity is a necessary condition to confront a right that exists, which says the same thing that neoliberalism demands on Wall Street,” said the president. He acknowledged that there are “different views” and endorsed statements by his Minister of Public Works, Gabriel Katopodis, by reiterating that “divided we are worth less”. He did not give his opinion on the eventual formation of different blocs in Congress, and asked that “they consult the (Sergio) Massa”. A while before, he said he was “sure” that “no one in the Front of All wanted a default with the IMF”, although there were 28 deputies and 13 senators (most of them cristinistas) who opposed that agreement in the Congress.
After denying that he is thinking of modifying his cabinet, Fernández affirmed that it would be “healthy” to resolve the differences through the PASO mechanism next year.
With a tired walk and a relaxed face, Fernández had arrived accompanied by the spokeswoman Gabriela Cerrutiand the head of Radio and Television Argentina (RTA), Rosario Lufrano. She walked through the official channel museum before entering the studio. Towards the end, she hesitated as in no other consultation when they consulted him for the name of the son they are expecting with Fabiola Yanez and that he will be born next month, although he anticipated that the fight was between “Augusto” and “Francisco”.
