Economy in Argentina | New social protest in Argentina against a government cornered by the crisis

by time news

Two workers centrals, leftist parties and social movements returned this Wednesday to occupy the center of the city of Buenos Aires for the same reasons as in recent months and years: money is not enough and the only thing that moves is the poverty, which already hits 40% of Argentines. The crowd this time especially avoided directing their anger at the weak president, Alberto Fernandez. As a good part of the union leadership is Peronist, rather than targeting a government that it considers its own, it denounced “economic irresponsibility of the great price makers who mark the value of essential products to improve their profit margins”. Argentina can close 2022 with a inflation greater than 100%. “Alberto, we have to do something, we can’t take it anymore,” claimed the leader of the truckers, Pablo Moyano. A new economy minister, Sergio Massa, is trying to channel the situation into frank adversity because the Central Bank has its dollar reserves close to red and the adjustment measures it is preparing to maintain the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may be a new source of social irritation.

In this context, those responsible for the mobilization read a document that warns that the “financial speculation seeks a devaluation that only favors concentrated economic groups” and “pulverizes the purchasing power of workers.” In turn, authorities and businessmen were claimed “a new social contract on the pillars of development, production and work.” Without reaching these goals “an inclusive model will be impossible.” Fernandez is trying to get unions and businessmen to sit down to negotiate a wage agreement that will allow rebuilding part of the eroded purchasing power.

The president lives his hardest hours since the Peronist coalition Frente de Todos took office in December 2019 with the promise of healing the wounds left by the right-wing administration. The pandemic aggravated living conditions. Although the economy is expected to grow four points this year, the constant rise in the price of the dollar and its inflationary effects only accentuate inequality. Many Argentines have obtained work, but they are just as poor. The Social Observatory of the Catholic University calculates that 2,800 people become part of this most vulnerable group every day.

deterioration and conflict

Since 2017, the salary of Argentines has deteriorated by 23%. For informal workers the decline is 35%. Pensions lost since 2015 up to 36% of their purchasing power. Social programs are enough to buy 40% more than five years ago.

According to the National Ministry of Labor and the International Labor Organization (ILO), Argentina is a country 14 times more conflictive than the world average. Between 2010 and 2020 they carried out 200 strikes or protests per 100,000 inhabitants. In the public administration, 3,600 terminations of activities took place during the last decade, while in the areas of health and education there were 1,900 and 1,300, respectively.

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Unlike what has happened in Colombia, Ecuador and Chile, where, as of 2019, social outbreaks took place, the workers’ centrals and the social movements have functioned until now as a source of containment of the fury of those most in need. However, Juan Grabois, leader of the popular economy workers, has assured that these dikes are becoming more and more fragile and that the country is not far from a scenario similar to that experienced by other countries in the region. “Look what we’ve come to, Alberto, to ask you not to have extreme poverty in one of the richest countries in the world,” he said during the mobilization.

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