‘No-one will invest in generating work and production with 80% interest rates’
Opposition leader Sergio Massa on the IMF deal, economic turmoil and why it’s too early to think of elections.
Sergio Massa has said that Argentina’s next leader should renegotiate its US$57.1-billion deal with the International Monetary Fund, criticising the government for turning to international lenders amid an economic crisis.
At an event in Washington DC on Monday, the Renewal Front leader complained that a memorandum about the agreement with the IMF had not been sent to Congress, as he criticised the government for ‘indebting’ itself with the multilateral institution instead of asking Argentines with money abroad to repatriate their cash.
Massa was in full campaign mode on Monday as he gave a talk about what the future holds for the country, at an event hosted by the Argentina Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the US capital.
With President Mauricio Macri struggling to contain the country’s current economic crisis, casting a shadow over his plans to win re-election next year, Massa travelled to the United States to present his vision of Argentina’s future and to talk up his aim of providing a Peronist alternative. During his time in Washington he also held several meetings with potential investors in Argentina and delivered a lecture at Georgetown University.
In his speech to those in attendance, the Peronist leader made a case for his leadership of a new coalition, which he said would seek not to be as compliant with Washington as Macri’s pro-free-market leaning government. The Renewal Front leader said he would also seek to be more pragmatic and flexible than previous Kirchnerite administrations.
“What we represent, with various governors and mayors, is the idea of a republican, modern, and democratic Peronism, [one] that believes in dialogue, that believes in consensus … that believes the state should be an instrument that helps Argentina’s society,” Massa said.
The former presidential candidate went on to list seven critical priorities that the next government should address: educational reform, a “progressive and just” tax system, a federalist system, security, environmental policy, labour, and gender equality.
Massa’s comments were reminiscent of the Renewal Front leader’s classic third-way stump speech, a position the politician has maintained ever since he broke away from former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s Victory Front (FpV) party – except this time around he was emphasising his differences with the current administration.
against inflation. Are you all conscious of that? It’s insanity. No-one will invest in generating work and production in Argentina with 80 percent interest rates.
The social diagnosis you gave of the difficulties, of poverty, people that aren’t doing well. What do you think about December? Are you worried?
I think that the mayors and [Buenos Aires Governor Maria Eugenia] Vidal are doing a good job, at least in the metropolitan area. Are they providing the necessary social support?
I think that they are at least putting in the effort. Mayors, and Vidal, and social movements are working, and the Church. That is what I see functioning. Now, I don’t know how Rosario and other places are doing.
Do you think you will end up competing against Vidal and not Macri? Or is it the same?
No, it’s not that It will be the same for me. Vidal, I saw as a possible candidate because of an article. But I’m not clear what the administration is doing. I don’t know how it will finally be decided.
Do you think [former president] Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will be a candidate?
I have no idea; I don’t know the criteria each party will use to define their candidates for next year.
The election is far away from the painful economic process that is going on. So, to talk about your candidacy now is ridiculous. Yeah, but the primaries will start soon…
It is in August next year. The electoral groups or candidates aren’t even really defined a month beforehand.
How will the primaries work for you and your allies (the ‘Alternative Peronist’ front)?
We said there would be a primary. But I want to repeat that we’re going to build an idea, really a project. That is what we need and are going to focus on.
The government says that the notebooks graft scandal affected the economy. Do you think that? For example, with public-private public works projects (PPPs)?
The PPP’s don’t have funding because of the context, because of the interest rates, the price. The high costs. So,youdon’tbelievethegovernment in that sense?
It’s not that I don’t believe them. What I don’t understand is how that would be the situation. Why would people stop selling, because of the notebooks scandal?
All the time, there is a new excuse. One time it’s the international context, another time is the notebooks. Here is a failure of the economic plan.
There wasn’t a plan or a real project. They promised zero inflation, zero po- verty;theygeneratedtheseexpectations that have nothing to do with reality.
Whatdoyouthinkofthecommercial relation between Macri and Trump with the United States?
The most important thing the government was able to accomplish was to export lemons to the US again and aluminum. It will be positive if the commercial relationship favours us. We need a relationship between the countries; it has to be a ‘win-win.’ Do you think the notebooks scandal will influence the elections?
I think it will be very difficult for candidates that are implicated in corruption cases to run. It will be an issue in the elections.
What do you think about [Macri’s political advisor Jaime] Durán Barba’s comments, saying that the economy won’t be an important issue?
There are other sectors that say that corruption won’t be an important issue. Each group tries to hide vulnerabilities. Are you going to see investors?
I’m going to tell them to invest in the real economy. To invest in the private sector that has businesses supported in the real economy that will give returns in the medium term.
The government estimates that Argentina’s economy will return to growth at the end of next year…
If only, I hope so. The government’s growth figures have been delayed repeatedly every quarter. Now we are supposed to grow at the end of their mandate. Is [Roberto] Lavagna still your chief economic advisor?
Yes, absolutely. And for me, he is the person most authorised to talk about Argentina’s economy. His model should be the country’s goal. A budget and trade surplus, a competitive exchange rate and growth. He led the most crucial debt restructuring process in history.
“I think the mayors and Vidal are doing a good job, at least in the metropolitan area.” “The election is far away from the painful economic process that is going on. So, to talk about your candidacy now is ridiculous.