"We had to allay fears, the most important thing is to avoid a crisis"

The Minister of Finance, Nicolás Dujovne remarked that "we had to face the fears and placate them" because "avoiding a crisis is the most important thing" , justifying the measures taken by the Government, which included raising it to 40% of the main interest rate, to stop the escalation in the price of the dollar.

"Undoubtedly, higher rates can impact productivity although it depends on how long it lasts, but Argentina suffered many crises in the past, we have to make sure that it does not happen more, we want to avoid crises like the ones we had "he explained.

Dujovne attributed the rise of the US currency to a series of factors, and among the principals mentioned to "a phenomenon of global appreciation of the dollar and the 'domestic noises' linked to the fear of the opposition tariff project" which he qualified as "i responsible " for the fiscal cost that it would generate. "Pretending to set the tariff policy from the Congress is not adequate" he criticized.

"We had to face the fears and placate them, show that Argentina is inexorably moving towards fiscal equilibrium" he added in statements to radio

The official described that "without a doubt it is a very competitive exchange rate, more than the beginning of the management when we left the exchange rate trap" although he advanced that "if in the future the currencies of other countries tend to appreciate, the same thing will happen to the peso ".

He also admitted that the Government should " adapt to a somewhat harsher international context "but it showed "convinced" that "with the tools we have, we will not have crises like those of the past" . "Many times Argentina had a crisis because it did not have a floating exchange rate, which is what allows absorbing the shocks" he added.

"The population has to be calm, there is a team and we go through The good way, we have to keep growing and keep lowering poverty It's the hard road to development: to grow slowly We want to continue along that road "he concluded.

This Friday, the dollar stopped the bullish climb of the last days and fell 72 cents compared to the close of the day before, in $ 22.28 after the strong increase in the interest rate to 40% arranged by the Central Bank (BCRA) and the announcement of an additional reduction of public expenditure made by Dujovne.

Shortly before the opening of the markets, the joint intervention sought to put a limit to the depreciation of the peso that ended yesterday with a devaluation of 7% against the dollar when the wheel closes in $ 23 .

In a statement issued before the start of operations, the Central Bank announced that it decided to increase "the Monetary Policy rate by 675 points to 40%" .

"Likewise, the width of the rate corridor is extended, the 7-day rates will be 47% for the active pass and 33% for the passive pass, the one-day rates went up to 57% for the active pass. and 28% for the liabilities "added the monetary authority.

The BCRA also decided to put a brake on the drainage of foreign currency by establishing that the net positive global position of foreign currency of the banks computed in daily balances at the rate of reference exchange may not exceed 10% of the computable capital liability or own resources, as of next Monday, a percentage that is currently located at 30%

The Central also warned that it will not hesitate to raise the cost of money again "to guarantee the process of disinflation" and with the aim of defending its goal of 15% for the current year.