The former Minister of Economy Alfonso Prat–Gay was interviewed on the show Argentine Odysseyhosted by Carlos Pagni in LN+ and analyzed what failed during the government of Mauricio Macri to regulate rates and the exchange rate: “Lacked a narrative and leadership”. In addition, he analyzed from when confidence in the national currency was lost and what must be done to get the economy back on track. “fucked up a long time ago”, he exclaimed and sentenced: “A comprehensive program is needed that must be sustained over time through alternation”.
“In 2015 we had the lowest rates in history, which Cristina left with a late exchange rate and a higher salary, so the expectation was that if we were regulating rates and the exchange rate went up, there would be a wage cushion that could absorb it”, he said about the idea of the government of Mauricio Macri to control the rise in prices and improve services.
However, he related why he believes the economic plan did not work: “I think it did not work, among other things, because there was a lack of narrative and leadership that explained that this had to be done.not only because it had to be done or because you have to put the air conditioning on 24, but because there was a program that was going to take us to a promised land”.
Carlos Pagni hand in hand with Alfonso Prat-Gay in a talk about the economic crisis
In this sense, he differentiated the current situation and foreshadowed what problems the next government will have to deal with. “Today you have that the rates are behind, the exchange rate low and the salaries too. You have to play all the keys, “he said and continued:”The change of government will take place with the almost lowest real salary in historyso any economic policy decision is almost above the float level, there is almost no margin to pay a large political cost.
After that, he gave his point of view on the way in which high inflation and distrust in the peso can be solved. “A broader comprehensive program is needed as the problem is cultural and political, not economic and the program must be sustained over time through alternation in power”, he argued.
Despite this, he clarified: “Argentines have learned that the best response is to distrust when a government says it is going to solve a problem and that is why a political agreement is essential.”
Later, he specified thatstabilization alone is not enough” but rather “a parallel program that enhances the aggregate offer” is required. “You have to expand the offer so that it does not affect employment because stabilization alone is not enough,” he argued.
Later in the interview, Pagni asked Prat-Gay about the appearance of Javier Miley and his plan to dollarize the economy, to which the former official sentenced: “There are no dollars to dollarize”. “It is the fantasy that we solve the symptom, the lack of confidence in the currency and that everything else, the causes, are going to be ordered naturally, but it is not like that,” he explained.
To argue his point, he relied on some parameters that are not entirely clear in the libertarian’s proposal. “There are more pesos than dollars, so if you want to dollarize you have to explain what you are going to do with the pesos of savers, the lack of competitiveness, the fiscal deficit, the relationship between the provinces and the State”, he stressed and added: “Milei’s ideas catch on because of the anger that exists with politics and the need for a magical solution to appear”.
Meanwhile, he pointed out what the main opposition coalition should learn from Milei: “The courage of Together for Change should be to explain that there are no magic solutions and they should attend to the fact that Milei captures a state of mind in society that tells politicians that until now they have not solved the problems.
Finally, he gave his opinion on the presidential candidates and said that he does not see concrete plans but internal fights. “I see in the two poles of the rift more of an internal fight than a general discussion about what the roles and the change are and how we are going to navigate it,” she concluded.
THE NATION