After two weeks of high voltage on almost all fronts of the economy, Sergio Massa will travel to the US tomorrow afternoon with the expectation of
getting a wink from the White House in front of the IMF
.
The Economy Minister will arrive in New York between Monday and Tuesday to join the delegation led by Alberto Fernández, and together they will travel to Washington on Wednesday.
There, it is expected that the US president, Joe Biden, will receive his Argentine counterpart.
In parallel, the Government will advance in changes to accelerate the liquidation of foreign currency.
Massa said on Saturday that "this week there will be more measures to support producers who are victims of the drought" and that in the April-August period he is preparing an "
export incentive program."
After
the soybean dollar II, the minister had promised a Malbec dollar since April 1.
As Clarín learned
,
the Economy is working on a "
differential dollar" for wine, lemon and rice, among others of the 30 regional economies
under study.
The soybean dollar was applied in September and December, for a period of 30 days.
Now, "the idea is a
longer window of about four or five months
so that they can export more and improve competitiveness," confirmed sources from the Economy.
Tobacco, peanuts, grass, grapes, eggs, cotton, garlic, pears and apples, legumes and olives would also be reached.
The businessmen also ask for a VAT refund in 15 days, an increase in refunds to 15% to compensate for internal taxes and a labor law "according" to the activity.
With import restrictions stretched to the limit, Massa needs to
expand the supply of foreign currency,
but has less and less room for manoeuvre.
The Central Bank is running out of reserves and so far this year it has sold US$ 2.55 billion in the exchange market, despite accelerating the rise of the official dollar.
Due to the drought, the loss of US$ 20,000 million
in exports
is expected and the Fund restricted the use of reserves to intervene in the exchange rate gap.
The use of the ANSeS financial box also encountered new obstacles.
Last week, the Ministry of Economy formalized an exchange to take over bonds in dollars from the organization and sell other titles to the market, also nominated in dollars and in the hands of the entity.
The announcements deflated the cash on liquid (CCL) - it fell back to $ 390 - and the
gap was reduced to less than 80%
.
The intention was to also provide pesos to the Treasury, but in the face of opposition complaints for "pesifying" the assets of ANSeS, Massa decided to submit the initiative for technical evaluation by the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the UBA.
In this context, Massa will seek in the US to show
external support
for the measures taken amid difficulties to stabilize the economy.
He aims to unlock some support from Janet Yellen, the head of the Treasury and a key shareholder in the Fund.
The agency already endorsed the postponement of maturities for US$ 2,700 million last week.
Now, the minister is looking for the body's board of directors to approve a disbursement of US$5.3 billion next Friday.
The technical staff authorized a
relief of at least US$ 2,000 million in the reserve accumulation target in 2023,
but Cristina Kirchner Kirchner is pressing for a review of disbursements and a lesser fiscal adjustment.
The collapse in the collection of export duties puts pressure on spending in an election year.
Massa does not arrive at the best moment.
Yellen and her Fed counterpart Jerome Powell are more concerned with calming financial markets
after the collapse of three US banks.
Inflation is another sensitive front.
The pattern of increases of 3.2% per month (Fair Prices) was tripled by inflation of 9.8% in food in February.
Without respite, the Secretary of Commerce, Matías Tombolini, resumed meetings with businessmen of mass consumption, motorcycles, footwear, supermarkets and clothing.
It is to monitor prices, unlock the importation of inputs and analyze violations.
The drought threatens to reduce the supply of vegetables and fruits,
but Easter is also worrying: in Commerce they see
increases of more than 9% in chocolate eggs.
