Lacunza: "The savings of the Argentineans are absolutely available and it is untouchable"

Finance Minister Hernán Lacunza said today that "the savings of the Argentineans are absolutely available and that everyone can do what he wants with what he has at his home, the bank or abroad, and it's untouchable "at a press conference with accredited media at Casa Rosada at the end of the Cabinet meeting chaired by the President Mauricio Macri.

In this context, Lacunza said economic measures "were informed and shared" with all opposition parties, including the Front with All and the Federal Consensus, and said that "although There is an upcoming election campaign "," it is not ". excuse "do not" travel with stability and normality "which remains until the end of the year.

Lacunza acknowledged last night that the measures announced to control the dollar were "uncomfortable and transitory" and did not correspond to a "normal country", while denying the risk of hyperinflation and pointing out that "the challenge now is to park the ship at berth "Whatever happens to the elections".

He also pointed out that he spoke to the opposition and even "there is a dialogue with the Front of All", which far outstripped the government in the last primary elections.

Lacunza acknowledged that "there is a crisis of confidence" but said "that there is no risk of hyperinflation"; He expressed the hope that savers do not mbadively withdraw money from banks and stressed that there was a guarantee of public funds to guarantee citizens' money and avoid crises like those of the past.

"Argentina looks like a circle in which it returns from time to time in the same port.It is not the port we dreamed of, we should examine the causes," said Lacunza, who said stated that "during the current government, a lot of work had been done in the engine room". of this ship, but we were missing the dining room and this is the message of the polls. "

"Now the challenge is to park the ship on the wharf, no matter what happens with the elections," he said, adding that the mission he was given was "pbadengers do not suffer fluctuations "of the ship.

According to the metaphor, Lacunza also said: "It's like a family that lacks credit and the father has to cover the food, the shoes and the boys' fees."

"The first two are not negotiated, the boys' food is the deposits, the shoes are the exchange rate, there will be no green shoes, but we must wear the blue shoes, the Argentine peso wait, and that's what we did between Wednesday and today, with both measures: Wednesday we told the creditor that we needed more time, "he said in press releases .

The measures have as their priority "the ordinary citizen" and were necessary to mitigate "uncertainty" and not to "increase the exchange rate" and not to increase "inflation and poverty".

"These are not typical measures of a normal country, and they are uncomfortable for us," admitted the official, but said: "If we do not do them, and the exchange rate rises, consequences are more severe as inflation and poverty increase, and inequality increases. "

Lacunza defined the package as "capital control and dollarization" and justified it by the outbreak of an "undeniable reality", with reference to this, since August 12, a day after STEP , "there was an obvious change" because "the risk-country rose from 900 points, already high, to 2,000, and the dollar from 45 to 55 pesos", besides that "Argentina" loses credit ".

The official said that "there is uncertainty" over whether "the reserves cover all potential demands" of the economy, with reference to the "exchange rate, to depositors, who have the right to dispose, and to the payments of the debt ". "We order the preferences, and there is first the ordinary citizens: that the dollar does not rise more than it is because it is already high," he declared.

The Central Bank has launched a series of measures among which it is emphasized that exporters must liquidate the currencies resulting from their sales in the country and that all companies, not just banks, will have to ask the monetary entity to Permitting outside In addition, people can buy up to $ 10,000 a month and use that amount overseas.

For its part, Lacunza said that "it may be that" after these announcements, "a parallel exchange rate appears", although the implementation of these controls, he said, "does not not necessarily transferred to prices ".

Finally, the official said the government "today communicated by telephone" this series of measures to the IMF, with its "fundamentals".