On December 11, Martín Guzmán, Minister of Economy, announced that the Government will call a series of extraordinary sessions of Congress and that he intends to send Congress a bill on “solidarity and productive reactivation” in the next few days. The initiative is about “measures aimed at tackling the profound economic and social crisis,” protecting the most vulnerable population and seeking to re-establish “the conditions to rein in the economic downturn affecting Argentina.”
Santiago Cafiero, Chief of Staf, had already announced that extraordinary sessions would be called, probably before the end of the week as the Executive was aiming at getting Congress to work on economic, social and health emergency bills, although he did not specify when these would be referred to legislators.
Guzman remarked that the dollar restrictions will not be lifted until there is an economic reactivation and assured that there will not be a currency split. He also indicated that they will seek to order the fiscal imbalances in a consistent and gradual way.
“We recognize that there is a tax problem. Argentina has to achieve a fiscal balance. The problem is that it can’t be done all at once. 2020 is not a year for making fiscal adjustments, because this would aggravate the downturn,” he remarked.
In reference to the external debt and the relationship with the International Monetary Fund, Cafiero highlighted Argentina’s willingness to pay creditors. “In order to be able to pay, need the ability to pay. And to achieve this, the economy must recover,” he said.
He added that a special unit will be created under the charge of Guzmán to manage the sustainability of the external debt and handle external public debt policies. Cafiero also informed that an advisory commission formed by national economic referents will be established to discuss this issue.
Finally, he announced the names of the new economic team who will be working with the minister during his term:
- Raúl Rigo, Secretary of the Treasury
- Diego Bastourre, Secretary of Finance
- Haroldo Montagu, Secretary of Economic Policy
- Roberto Arias, Secretary of Tax Policy
- Maia Colodenco, Director of the International Relations Unit
- Sergio Chodos, Argentina’s candidate for director of the Southern Cone at the IMF