The external and fiscal front on the agenda | Guzmán to present figures to investment funds

During his North American tour, the Minister of the Economy, Martín Guzmán, will meet with representatives of investment funds. The meeting will take place next Friday in New York, after the meetings of the previous days in Washington DC with the technical and political staff of the IMF and the ministers of the other countries participating in the G20 meeting.

“The meeting with the private sector aims strengthen the bond of understanding and clarify doubts about the methodology of decision-making, ”they explain in the Treasury, alluding to the characteristics of discussions and political definitions within the government coalition.

The exterior facade

One of the axes of conversations with investors and with IMF staff will be the situation of the external sector, in tension since the beginning of the electoral process. In the government’s vision, “the monetary situation is more solid than a year ago, both because there are more reserves at the central bank and because of the narrowing of the exchange rate differential. We are complying with the dollar rate forecasts for this year and the exchange rate policy can continue to be sustained “.

Beyond this diagnosis, in the financial and even productive world, there is a waiting position what happens with the elections and the main variables of the external sector.

The economic team will make investors understand that the external restriction is the main stumbling block for the national macroeconomy and that on both the debt and net exports side, the government has progress to show. In the case of indebtedness, the situation of private creditors has been temporarily resolved and the IMF issue remains unresolved.

On the export side, Economics recalls that “Last August was the best month since 2013 and not only because of the favorable pricing situation but also because of the quantities“They point it out too”the Gas Plan worked very well because an increase in imports could be avoided “and that the construction project of the new Vaca Muerta gas pipeline will allow us to continue reducing external gas purchases and increase exports to Brazil, which is suffering from an electricity crisis.

The fiscal front

In the tax area, the question of utility tariffs will be part of the discussion. “The budget aims to reduce the weight of subsidies on GDP to 1.5%, mainly because resolution 46 signed by former minister Juan José Aranguren, which established a promotional gas price of $ 7.5 per million , is obsolete. BTUs with a declining trend ”.

But also, Economy wants to apply a subsidy targeting policy that would allow a reduction from 1.8% to 1.5% of the GDP defined as a budgetary objective. This year, Guzmán waged an internal conflict over the issue of subsidies which eventually gave way to the Kirchnerist position.

Money

Although the government does not consider or is unable to issue foreign currency debt, it does wants investment funds to choose sovereign bonds that are currently trading on the market. On the other hand, there are the funds that continue to sit in local investments due to the financial cycle and have not yet taken cash out through liquidation. The minister wants to seduce funds to avoid or at least reduce this incessant exit.