Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced in a taped message last night the “extraordinary economic package” needed to achieve fiscal balance, a goal that President Javier Miley labeled a “priority.”

“We are facing the worst legacy in our history, a country where we are getting poorer and poorer,” Caputo warned and predicted: “If we continue as we are, we will inevitably be on a path to hyperinflation. We risk reaching, as Javier Millay said, a price increase of 15,000% annually. Our mission is to avoid this catastrophe”

Announced events:

1- Employment contracts with the state, which are not extended for a specified period of one year. Caputo said it is “a common practice in politics to bring your friends or relatives into the administration or government firm you work for” that must be stopped.

2- The government’s national advertising program is suspended for one year. “In 2023, 34 billion pesos were spent by the president or the government. We have NO money left to support with taxpayers’ money a media that is created only to extol the virtues of the government in power,” the minister said. economy.

3- The number of ministries is reduced from 18 to 9, and the number of state secretariats – from 106 to 54.

4- Discretionary transfers to the provinces are minimized. “It’s a resource that, unfortunately, in our recent history has been used as a bargaining chip to trade political favors.”

5- The state will no longer hold tenders for new public works and will cancel those tenders for which work has not yet begun. “There is no money to pay for additional public works, which, as we all know, often end up in the pockets of politicians and businessmen. Public works have always been one of the sources of corruption in the state and it ends with us. The infrastructure work in Argentina will be done by the private sector because the state does not have the money or funding for it.”

6 – Reduction of energy and transport subsidies. This will mean higher electricity and gas bills, as well as higher prices for trains and buses. Caputo said: “Today, the state artificially supports very low energy prices and subsidized transport tariffs. These subsidies are not free, we pay for them through inflation. What they give you in ticket price, they take back in supermarket prices, says Caputo

7- Potenciar Trabajo, AUH and Card Alimentar plans will be maintained. The universal child benefit will be doubled, and the food card – by 50%.

8. The peso/US dollar exchange rate is set at 800, which represents a 54% devaluation. “This will be accompanied by a temporary increase in import duties. After the end of the state of emergency, we will cancel all export taxes, which are vicious taxes that hinder Argentina’s development,” Caputo emphasized.

“It will be worse for us in the coming months. But, as the president says, it is better to tell an inconvenient truth than a comfortable lie,” the minister noted in his address.