Dujovne admitted that it was difficult, but that it was necessary to slow down the inflation

In the framework of the Mercosur Heads of State Summit, Dujovne said that "Argentina has a strong and consistent monetary program and, even if it is difficult, it is necessary to slow down the consumer price index".

The consumer price index rose 2.7% in June and rose 22.4% since the beginning of the year, said Tuesday the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC) ). Thus, inflation reached 55.8% in the twelve-month period ending in June, one of the highest levels in the world.

Single currency for Mercosur

Finance Minister Nicolás Duijovne said on Wednesday that it had been decided to focus on the work being done by the Mercosur Macroeconomic Monitoring Group, with a view to badessing the possibility of launching a common currency between the block partners, which is a "long-term project".

Mercosur also aims to define the infrastructure priorities needed for the bloc formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and could carry them out jointly, he said.

"We have decided to do a job among the different countries that make up Mercosur on the potential benefits of a common currency," the minister told reporters at the state leaders summit that is deliberating in Santa Fe .

"We know that this is a long-term project.The first step is to conduct a thorough study of the conditions to be fulfilled beforehand, in macroeconomic terms, of the different countries that make up Mercosur so that to carry out this project which seems to us all very interesting, "he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Economy of Brazil Paulo Guedes ruled out the possibility of creating a common currency with Argentina. He said implementation of the "real peso" would not be in the short term.

Details of the Mercosur meeting

Dujovne praised South American decision "to advance on the path of integration as a means of generating prosperity for citizens".

He explained that this morning's meeting with his peers from the region had been badyzed. the "state" of each partner's economies, and then defined "a common work program for issues that go beyond the commercial framework".

"From now on (Mercosur) should be focused on issues related to measuring the macroeconomic impact of the deals we are negotiating and that we will negotiate with other blocks." We also want to know what multi-national projects can be developed in the joint, "he said.

"Ranking" of infrastructure projects

The macroeconomic surveillance group will also develop a "ranking" infrastructure projects at the regional level, and then determining which of them could be achieved jointly.

"All our countries have a very large infrastructure deficit, we want to build infrastructure together and then we need to prioritize our priorities," said the finance minister.

The group will also be invited to badyze the tax system in force in each country in order to determine the possibilities to advance in a greater homogenization of tax systems.

Dujovne stressed that "at the request of Brazil, the macroeconomic monitoring group will be invited to badyze the state of Mercosur's demographic situation in order to" evaluate the sustainability of the region's systems ".