The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, spoke this Friday at the Rosario Stock Exchange and begged big businessmen to invest. On the same day, Clarín journalist Marcelo Bonelli anticipated that the company Petronas “95%” has given up on the LNG project with YPF after months of discussion over where the work would be carried out (Buenos Aires Province or Río Negro).
During his speech, the head of the Treasury sought to convince and give guarantees that the country is “a good student” because “it did its homework and will do well” in relation to the adjustment that is underway. Despite the recession, Caputo stated that “there will be no crisis” because Argentina now has “a solid macroeconomic situation.” “There may be volatility, but there will be no crisis,” he added.
The minister once again repeated that inflation is falling, pointing to the wholesale index, which was 2.1% in August, and spoke of the economy being reactivated in most sectors. He also boasted of the adjustment, highlighting that the deficit and money supply were eliminated in the first month, something that “nobody believed could be done.” But he questioned the “anxiety” of some economic actors. “Everyone wants to see inflation reach zero and the economy grow at 8%. Let us also be realistic; 120 years of mismanagement cannot be fixed in nine months,” he said.
Luis Caputo is overly optimistic about the economy and hides the deterioration of working class living conditions resulting from its policies. Inflation is not abating, August remained at high levels (4.2%), GDP collapsed 3.4% in the first six months of the year, unemployment jumped to 7.6% in the second quarter of the year (1.7 million unemployed)and next week the Indec will confirm an increase in poverty that, according to private estimates, exceeds 50%.
Money laundering and passing the hat in search of investments
Luis Caputo passed the hat to the employers to ask them to invest, saying: “You are the ones who can most influence this recovery to be as fast and as strong as possible. The recovery will inevitably happen, because when you do your homework, things turn out well. If you all take your dollars out of the mattress, lose your fear of the Kirchnerist bogeyman and dare to invest, we will recover much faster.”
Regarding the incentive regime for large investments (RIGI), a great reward for entrepreneurs, the Minister of Economy stated that “the announcements already exceed US$50,000 million” and that there are external and local investors. “That the President is one of the two or three most listened to voices in the world and that everyone is paying attention to what Argentina is doing at this moment is a favorable rarity, because that attracts investments. The investments will come, they are coming. The interest is enormous,” Caputo declared. It seems like a return of the promised rain of investments during the Macri administration, which finally turned out to be speculative capital that plundered the country.
About the bleachwhich benefits evaders, the minister declared that “it is a historic opportunity, in which the one who regularizes and the companies benefit because there will be cheap credit financed by Argentines.” The minister added that “anyone will be able to launder and even buy a car with a debit card without paying a fine. Whether it is less than US$100,000 or more that is regularized.” Through this means, undeclared funds will be able to enter the banking system, having the option of not having to pay a single dollar. This law was voted unanimously in the Senate, including the entire block of Unión por la Patria, and had broad support from the Unión Cívica Radical, the PRO, Peronism and the Pichetto block in the Chamber of Deputies.
Luis Caputo lights the candle for the tax evaders who drain the country to try to get dollars. The Government is aiming for investments, but no one is putting the money and the announcements that there were about mining and YPF-Petronas (which is now in doubt), beyond the numbers that Caputo exaggerates, include plans that, if they materialize, will only be carried out in a few years and not immediately. The Government speaks from the heart to the employers, but they continue to respond with their pockets.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
