Within hours of knowing the inflation data for April, President Alberto Fernández insisted with his theory that in the country there is a "self-constructed inflation" and translated this phenomenon as a "psychological inflation" in small merchants. The phrase did nothing but raise than generate a strong reaction from the opposition.
One of those who rejected the president's theory was the governor of Jujuy and also presidential candidate, Gerardo Morales, who had no mercy with the head of state.
"If the president believes that inflation is psychological, it is because he is for the psychologist," the head of the UCR National Committee replied after the March index stood at 7.7% and the year-on-year variation was above 100%, according to INDEC data.
But Morales did not stop there, but also gave Alberto Fernández a suggestion. "I recommend that you do therapy, urgent," the governor said through his Twitter account.
"In the month of April we had a currency run that took the dollar from 460 to 500 and peak in a week. That rise in prices operates in the head of the Argentines, as if all the rise is going to have an impact on prices. Afterwards, prices do not go down," the president said in an interview with Radio 10.
Although he insisted that "there are many causes" that generate the escalation in prices, among which he mentioned "speculation", Alberto Fernández reflected: "When I talk about self-constructed inflation I mean psychological inflation, which is not in the consumer. It's in the small shopkeeper."
Fernandez also said he spoke with Economy Minister Sergio Massa, asking him to set "some definitive objective to stop this." "You have to curb inflation somehow. Sergio has tried, at some point it worked and another time it didn't, but we have to stop it," he added.
Another of the opposition leaders who commented on the president's statements was the head of the Buenos Aires Government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who harshly crossed Alberto Fernández for having stated that inflation is "psychological" and a matter of small merchants.
"I can't believe I said that. It is disrespectful to the Argentines who 10 days ago could not pay the rent fee, or had to change their school children. That is the reality of the Argentines who are watching," Rodriguez Larreta said.
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