With eight weeks to go before the general elections on October 22, the economy continues to be the focus of the speeches of the main candidates, especially after the measures announced this Sunday by the ruling party and presidential candidate Sergio Massa in his role as Minister of Economy.
The head of the Palacio de Hacienda published a battery of measures taken by the Executive to try to alleviate the drop in purchasing power due to the devaluation of the 22% of last August 14.
Among them, a bonus of 60,000 pesos (US$164) that will reach some 5.5 million workers whose salary is less than 400,000 net pesos (about US$1,096); a “booster” 37,000 pesos (US$101.2) for retirees, bringing the minimum pension to 124,000 pesos (US$339.2); the exemption from the tax component for six months for monotributistas (self-employed); and a bonus of 10,000 pesos for beneficiaries of social plans.
These were harshly criticized by their two main contenders: “Explodes” the situation before or after the elections, foresaw the winner of the primaries, the libertarian Javier Milei, and a “derision”qualified the candidate of Together for Change (center-right), Patricia Bullrich.
“You can’t expect different results doing the same old thing. Model T Keynesianism again. It always fails and will fail again. The issue is time, this is whether it explodes before or after the election. I hope that more lions wake up so they are off-side ”, wrote Milei, who got 30.04% of the votes as the only candidate in the primaries of his space La Libertad Avanza.
“Massa continues to make fun of people”reacted Bullrich, who obtained 16.98% as the (third) candidate in her struggle with the mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, which raised support for the opposition coalition to a 28.28% (second).
“(Massa) To push his candidacy he took a series of measures that inflation is going to eat in a few days. This Argentina suffers and problems are not resolved with makeup and more broadcast. Massa offers explicit Kirchnerist populism instead of giving real opportunities for Argentines to work and grow.”published Bullrich on his social networks and stated: “With me, Kirchnerism ends forever.”
Argentina will live general elections on October 22, in which the main candidates to occupy the Casa Rosada from December 10 are Massa, for the official coalition Union for the Fatherland (formerly called the Front of All); the far-right economist Milei and the former Security Minister of the Government of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), Patricia Bullrich.
Milei was the candidate with the most votes in the primaries on August 13 and since then has marked the agenda with his proposals. She had to explain that she proposes “three generations” of policies and, therefore, they are not immediate, in a context in which the polls that are known these days still give him as the winner in October.
Bullrich was blurred in her opposition proposal to the Government of Alberto Fernández and, therefore, the crosses are now also between Milei and her.
Bullrich’s economic referent, the deputy and economist Luciano Laspina, affirmed that “It is generating a new hyperinflation” in Argentina “Between the demagogy of the Kirchnerist candidate (Massa) who continues spending and issuing pesos and the demagoguery of another candidate for president (Milei) who promises to eliminate those same pesos without having 1 dollar in exchange,” in reference to the dollarization that the latter has as its flag.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), with which Argentina has a program to refinance a debt of US$ 45 billion and recognizes that the Argentine economy is “fragile”, He met with all the candidates after the primaries.
A few days ago, Laspina also referred to Milei when denouncing that the far-right candidate “lied” regarding an alleged request from Bullrich’s economist to the IMF to cut the “roll over” of the debt with the organization and that “Bet on macroeconomic and social chaos.”
Laspina noted: “I didn’t know that in addition to selling smoke in the economy, he was also a great storyteller. He learned from his mentor and television producer Sergio Massa”, in a clear link between the two candidates, who many experts believe are polarizing the campaign to leave Bullrich out of the second round.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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