Lacunza, to the governors: we must all make the effort

The new finance minister, Hernán Lacunza, responded Wednesday to the governors who opposed the package of economic measures announced by President Mauricio Macri, saying that "everyone" should "make the effort".

"There is no room for speculation here. Mr Lacunza said Wednesday during a dialogue with Miter Radio: "If we agree that relief measures must be taken, we must all make the effort, the accounts and the corrections to fund these measures ".

At the same time, the governors of the Federal Front and the other non-official provinces will meet at 11:00 am on Wednesday at the Federal Investment Council (IFC), where they will express their rejection of the reduction of the co-participation which will lead to benefits. , monotax and VAT, since there is a decrease of billions of pesos for provincial coffers.

However, Lacunza, who until his stint in the National Cabinet was Minister of Economy of the Province of Buenos Aires, was confident that he would reach an agreement with the governors.

Yesterday he met the Minister of the Interior, Rogelio Frigerio; the Secretary of Energy, Gustavo Lopetegui; the governors of the Patagonian provinces and the oil sector. "We listen to the arguments and we will find diagonals to attend as long as they are justified. We will work to find solutions, "said Lacunza.

The agreement with the IMF and the economic policy

In another part of the interview, Lacunza revealed that before baduming a conversation with the authorities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"The agreement is still in effect," said Lacunza, who repeated that a mission of the multilateral credit agency would come in the coming days to monitor the progress of the program.

Regarding the exchange rate, he insisted on what he said on Tuesday in his opening words as Finance Minister. "It is undeniable that the exchange rate is long above the value of balance, there is no reason to promote a rise in the exchange rate. This is the highest real exchange rate of the last 12 years, "he said.

"It does not make sense to allow irrational speculation, because that's what the reserves serve," Lacunza said.

Meetings with opposition parties

According to the minister's badessment, electoral processes are historically complex in Argentina. The markets, he explained, are looking at the present but also the future. In this sense, he said, in order to "generate certainty about the future", it is important for the government to do as well as for the presidential candidates and their respective economic advisers. .

In this regard, Lacunza said yesterday he met with representatives of the Federal Consensus, national deputy Marco Lavagna and economist Leonardo Madcur.

"We were talking about policies in the immediate future and they have submitted proposals that we will be studying," Lacunza said of the meeting.

Meanwhile, he will meet today the economic team of the candidate for the Front of All, Alberto Fernández, and meetings with the spaces of José Luis Espert and Juan José Gómez Centurión.