President Mauricio Macri said that Argentina is on the right track to forge a strong rebound next year after overcoming a financial crisis in 2018.
“Argentina is in a much better situation than 12 months ago,” Macri told Bloomberg TV in an interview on Monday in Buenos Aires.
“We have significantly reduced our deficit, next year we will balance the primary budget and we have already financed all our needs through the International Monetary Fund program, which marks a great, big difference,” he said.
Macri spoke after hosting the summit of the Group of 20 that concluded on Saturday with the agreement of all the leaders regarding the final declaration, unlike the G-7 meeting in June, in which the president of The United States, Donald Trump, withdrew its support.
There were no violent protests in the Argentine capital, which contrasted with the incidents recorded in last year’s G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, and the US. and China declared a temporary truce to their trade war.
More than just a host, the Argentine leader also held a marathon of bilateral meetings with leaders such as Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron, Trump, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi.
Elected in 2015, this year has been possibly the most difficult of Macri. A monetary crisis led the country into a recession and forced the head of state to seek help from the IMF, which granted the nation a record credit line of US $ 56 billion. A severe drought, massive sales in the global market, zigzagging policies and communication errors triggered the fall of the peso, which reaches 49 percent this year, the most pronounced of the emerging markets.
Possibilities for reelection
The economic slowdown puts obstacles in Macri’s path towards reelection next year. The approval of his government is at its lowest level since he took office and consumer confidence fell to its lowest point in 16 years in November.
After his government began this year with an inflationary target of 15 percent, prices are expected to rise 47% in December with respect to the same month of 2017, warns Bloomberg.
Thinking about the October elections, the president promised to maintain simplicity: “Continue telling the truth, continue collaborating with my citizens and showing them that this is the only way. This G20 helped a lot, because all the leaders who visited us at the summit and at the 17 bilateral meetings we had agreed that we are making the right reforms. “
