Key government allies will huddle together at the Pink House today to discuss the social and political ramifications of rising utility prices, state-run news agency Télam reported.
A special session called by the Peronist opposition in the Lower House failed Wednesday to reach the quorum needed to debate a bill to freeze price hikes.
It was a win for the government. However, the tension surrounding rising utility prices —which included outbursts of bot-banging Wednesday evening in Argentine cities— has seen key government ally the Radical Party (UCR) and lawmaker for Buenos Aires City, Elisa Carrió, force President Mauricio Macri’s administration to address the issue internally.
“Our party is part of Cambiemos (Macri’s ruling coalition) and we are trying to collaborate without making irrational proposals”, UCR minority leader in the Lower House, Mario Negri, told Télam. “We are a party with strong links to the middle and productive classes, who collaborate day by day in the growth of our country, with small and medium businesses and production”, he added.
Consumer gas prices in Argentina will rise 30 to 40 percent from April.
Meanwhile, the government’s inflation target for 2018 seems less and less likely. On Monday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that inflation in Argentina will reach 22.7 percent by year's end.
-TIMES
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