LatinNews Daily - 12 December 2019

* Argentina’s economy minister, Martín Guzmán, has said the immediate fiscal policy objective of the new government led President Alberto Fernández is to obtain a primary fiscal surplus next year by rationalising spending but not necessarily cutting it. Speaking in his first press conference since being sworn-in on 10 December, Guzmán acknowledged that the domestic economy is in crisis, suffering from recession and high inflation and said that the first priority is to promote economic growth by increasing government spending but maintaining a measure of fiscal prudence. “Our objective is to have a primary fiscal surplus, but we cannot continue with the [fiscal] adjustment next year”, Guzmán said. He emphasised that any increase in spending would have to be measured to avoid having to resort to the printing of money to finance it, which he warned “would be destabilising”. Guzmán said that the deficit next year should remain around the 1% of GDP projected for this year. 

End of preview - This article contains approximately 156 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial