10/08/2020 11:09 PM
Clarín.com
Opinion
Updated 10/08/2020 23:09
The businessmen asked the President for
corrections in the current currency strategy
.
It happened in several secret conversations that Alberto Fernández had in the Quinta de Olivos.
Some encourage a greater slide in the commercial exchange rate.
But most coincide in
making a free dollar official
for savings, tourism and private transactions.
The issue was discussed precisely in the meeting where the head of the Industrial Union was present.
Miguel Acevedo was concrete: for the UIA,
the "stocks" is an economic irrationality and favors a free market for individuals
, without the intervention of the Central Bank.
Acevedo continued.
For the head of the UIA, this free market has to channel the savings dollar, the ticket for real estate operations and tourism expenses.
The businessman concluded: “It decompresses the official dollar.
The BCRA would not lose reserves ”.
A trio of factory leaders was witness:
Roberto Urquía, Luis Betnaza and Javier Madanes Quintanilla.
There were also several ministers.
Martín Guzmán listened in disturbing silence.
Only at the end of the meeting did the minister respond: "Miguel, that is unfeasible."
And he countered:
"That dollar would go quickly to 200 pesos."
Acevedo is not alone.
The Argentine Banks Association
crushed
the BCRA to set up that free market.
This Friday, important businessmen would insist on the issue at a lunch in Olivos.
Marcos Bulgheroni, Marcelo Mindlin and Jorge Brito
are invited
.
Bankers will receive the same negative.
Guzmán -in addition- hides himself in the following: he says that a double market is not accepted by the International Monetary Fund.
On Sunday the IMF mission ends.
Julie Kozak and Luis Cubeddu
arrived in Argentina with caution and a political “lead”.
Both emissaries received –before traveling– a confidential report prepared by the IMF staff, in which
the Argentine political situation
is assessed as
weak.
The document is realistic, but extremely critical about what is happening in Buenos Aires.
He speaks of the economic fragility of Argentina and also of the
political
weakening
in the leadership of the Casa Rosada.
The president of the UIA, Miguel Acevedo, leaves the Casa Rosada after meeting with Martín Guzmán and trade unionists.
Photo Marcelo Carroll
According to financial sources, the work reflects the dangerous fights in the Frente de Todos and would speak of the serious social tension in the suburbs.
The text is
dynamite
and therefore very hermetic.
They say that it would have been drafted by the IMF's "Political Strategy and Evaluation" Department.
Its existence is confirmed at the highest political level in Argentina.
An IMF spokesman - before a
Clarín
query
- said he was unaware of its existence.
The text concludes with a political recommendation: given the seriousness of the problems, it is encouraged to avoid conflicts so that the IMF is not accused of being responsible for another drift in Argentina.
For this reason, the text of the secret document would have been the engine of
Kristalina Georgieva's
last statement
to unpack: "We did not come to Argentina with the idea of asking for more adjustment."
Georgieva and the President would have coordinated their last public appearances.
Alberto made a Copernican turn and on Sunday came out to speak well of the Fund and ask for a quick agreement.
Alberto stated: "I aspire to
have an agreement as soon as possible
."
The Casa Rosada wants an agreement with the IMF to be "an anchor"
to lower uncertainty and stop the run on the dollar.
Accelerating the agreement is also due to another issue: the negotiation to activate the “Chinese swap” did not advance.
China is inflexible and communicated that it does not lower the financial cost to use the yuan.
Argentina's vote for Venezuela obeys this plot: Maduro's indefensible situation and the need to align himself with the United States to
obtain Washington's support
in the negotiations with the IMF.
Before taking office, the President met in Mexico with an envoy from Donad Trump, the controversial Mauricio Claver Carone.
It was November 6.
Carone -now head of the IDB- attended the meeting with the Argentine businessman Gustavo Cinosi.
Felipe Solá exclaimed with annoyance:
"What is this guy doing here?"
The leadership of the CGT met with the IMF mission at UOCRA on Thursday.
Alberto and the chancellor found out that he was accompanying Carone.
Incredibly, the questioned businessman participated in the binational meeting.
The delegate specified the conditions of the White House for the US to give an endorsement to the IMF.
A key issue was Venezuela.
Carone asked Argentina to accompany –with its own nuances– the US position. The IMF's confidential political report addresses –as a central point- also
the differences at the top of power.
The tension between Alberto and Cristina generates additional wear to the Casa Rosada.
The dialogue between the two is - lately -
tense.
Cristina believes that the Government
has no management
and that complicates the solution of the economic crisis.
He proposes
cabinet changes
and corrections to be successful in the midterm elections.
The vice president has a conviction.
The elections are key to
his judicial future
and his future political project:
"Maximum President."
Alberto, in turn, is fed up with the fact that hard Kirchnerism tries to
mark the field for him
and wear down his management
from the Instituto Patria
.
Also, that the worst versions appear against the Casa Rosada.
Cristina cannot stand that Alberto's sides accuse her of having
“anachronistic ideas”
and that they blame her for
being the “bad”
that generates the current problems of the Casa Rosada.
The economic team exposed its "amateurism" in the implementation of the latest exchange rate measures.
There is an unwritten rule that says the following:
decisions on the dollar must be made on Fridays.
That allows a 72 hour window for implementation and explanation.
Miguel Pesce instrumented the stocks on a Tuesday and it
took eight days to normalize the market.
That mistake fostered versions that caused savers to panic.
Guzmán lowered withholdings on Thursday, but the measure took effect on Tuesday.
Liquidation was stopped and the BCRA
lost 200 million reserves.
Now there is an enthusiasm for an eventual defeat of Donald Trump.
A Joe Biden triumph may benefit Latin America, but technically it slows down any decision at the IMF: no one is going to make resolutions on Argentina until he takes office in January and appoints new officials.
Minister Martín Guzmán leaves the Casa Rosada.
Photo Germán García Adrasti
These are unforced errors, which complicate the real problems.
The central issue:
the very poor level of reserves in the BCRA.
Above, Guzmán and Miguel Pesce promote
opposing
strategies
.
The emissaries of the IMF know it.
Pesce wants to restrict demand as much as possible.
Guzmán, increase the offer.
Pesce says that control must be
accentuated to avoid a currency run.
Guzmán wants to narrow the gap and proposes to
speed up the mini-devaluations
.
The minister questions the BCRA because it does not intervene in the bond market, to fill the gap.
The BCRA counterattacks: it accuses Guzmán's fiscal policy of the problem.
There are many differences, to put - a minimum - exchange order.
This Thursday, the drip continued.
Both officials have another problem:
the debt of private companies.
On Wall Street, the first agreement of a leading company was partially accepted: the Banco Hipotecario plan received a 46% adhesion.
You would need 60%.
That is why all are pending:
Will the BCRA give the missing dollars?
Or will it leave companies alone in the face of the greed of Wall Street “wolves”?
LP
Look also
Dollar: how and when the devaluation will be is still being discussed
The lesson of Carlos Chacho Álvarez, the only certainty that politics provides