President Mauricio Macri remains confident that his government is taking the correct measures toward securing stronger economic growth for Argentina including an eventual “single-digit” rate of inflation.
However, in a Sunday evening interview with journalist Luis Majul, the head of state also confessed: “I thought it (the rate of inflation) would drop faster” than it has.
“We’ve got to look at the tendency in this process, which is lowering (inflation)”, Macri said, asserting: “We’re going to reach one digit”.
Accumulated inflation during Macri’s first two years in office came in at 75 percent, just 0.7 of a percentage point lower than inflation during the last two years of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s presidency — though for far different reasons.
Meanwhile, February 2018 inflation alone was 2.4 percent, the INDEC statistics bureau reported Thursday.
Macri also focused on the dollar — currently hovering around 20.50 pesos — saying: “As inflation declines, the (value of the) dollar will move much less. We have a declining trend in inflation which the Central Bank is committed to, while the Treasury is committed to reducing spending”.
“We cannot continue to create debt for our children and grandchildren. We need to leave them some savings, not debt”, he added.
Macri's comments come as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde praised the government for “attacking economic problems with determination, not in half measures, but on the basis of sustainable measures over time”.
LOPEZ
During the interview, the president also touched on the issue of disgraced business tycoon Cristobal López’s recent release from preventative detention.
He described López’s alleged crimes as “embezzlement” and confirmed the “government and AFIP (tax office) will appeal the decision” to release him.
-TIMES
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