Milei and Caputo’s blender has advanced so far this year. According to a report from the Congressional Budget Office (CPO), In the first five months of the year there was a drop in real terms in retirements and pensions, public salaries, subsidies for electricity and transportation, food policies, Progresar Scholarships, Promote Work, transfers to universities and provinces. But the cut was not for all games, what was allocated to debt interest rose 1.5% in real terms in the same period.
The caste was you
Javier Milei got tired of repeating that the adjustment and the chainsaw would be applied to the breed. But far from that, the cuts and their economic measures worsened the living conditions of the working class, causing more poverty and unemployment.
This is demonstrated by the adjustment numbers. The OPC report noted that primary expenditures registered a 31.3% drop in real terms in the first five months of the year.
Among the largest cuts in real terms in the first five months of the year are: transfers to provinces (-84.5%); Enhance Work (-54.9%); Progresar Scholarships (-50.8%); transportation subsidies (-33.8%); energy subsidies (-33.2%); retirements and pensions (-25.7%); transfers to universities (-25.5%).
The reduction in energy and transportation subsidies meant an increase in public service and transportation rates.
Retirements and pensions were one of the items that had the most impact on the drop in total expenses in the accumulated five months, according to the report. “The purchasing power of average retirements for five months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 still has a real fall of 32.3% y/y,” the document adds. Despite the strong adjustment that the Government made regarding retirements, Milei stated that she is going to veto the project approved in Deputies this week that establishes a new retirement mobility.
The decrease in transfers to universities is explained by the drop in funds for the payment of salaries of teaching staff and higher authorities (-23.3% y/y real), and by salaries of non-teaching staff (-18.7% real a/a). There was also a reduction in the University Hospitals item (-40.9% y/y real). On April 23 there was a huge university march against the adjustment in public education.
The Government denies food to the most vulnerable, but there is money for the debt
Poverty increased to 55.5% in the first quarter of 2024 according to estimates by the Argentine Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University (ODSA-UCA). However, the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, left food stored in warehouses for months.
Not only did it not provide food for the most vulnerable sectors, but it also adjusted sensitive items. According to the OPC report, what was intended for Food Policies had a cut of 15.8% In the first five months of the year in real terms, the Food Benefit fell 12.1% in the same period. “The average value of the benefits shows a loss of purchasing power of around 12.0% y/y in real terms in five months. Meanwhile, transfers to community kitchens and picnic areas totaled $451 million, in contrast to $9,386 million in the same period of 2023 (-98.7% y/y real),” the document warned.
The Government does not deliver food and adjusts retirees, teachers, public workers, while rewarding speculators. The OPC report indicated that the debt interest item rose 1.5% in real terms in the first five months of the year “due to higher interest payments on foreign currency securities issued within the framework of the restructuring process of the September 2020 debt and IMF loans, offset by lower payments, in real terms, of securities in pesos.” In that combo there is debt restructured by the Frente de Todos government, an inheritance from Macrism. Debt that no employer government questions and pays.
The Government is going through a major crisis. Next week he will seek to approve the Bases Law and the fiscal package that includes more benefits for employers, and a new attack on the working class. We must confront Milei’s adjusting measures against working people. It is necessary that the union centers, the CGT and the CTA call for a new national strike and mobilization when the law is discussed on Wednesday the 12th.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
