ACQUAINTANCES of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner say obstinacy is her biggest flaw. Since the start of the year Argentina’s precarious economic situation has forced Ms Fernández to show some flexibility. In January came monetary adjustments: devaluation and interest-rate hikes. In February there was a new, more credible consumer-price index to replace the old one, sullied by seven years of government manipulation; a revised GDP estimate for 2013, of 3% growth, has since followed. An agreement with Repsol for the seizure of YPF, the state oil firm, was also notched up.
Now the economy ministry has begun to send signals that it is willing make important fiscal changes as well. On March 27th Axel Kicillof and Julio de Vido, Argentina’s ministers of economy and planning respectively, announced that the government would slash natural-gas and water subsidies by a total of 20%.
Most utility prices have been virtually frozen for...Continue reading
from Americas view http://ift.tt/1gXwHsy
No comments:
Post a Comment