Minister of Economy Luis Caputo once again attacked governors and mayors who raise taxes, contrasting it with the government's model of tax reduction.
"We continue to see governors and mayors with deficits financing them through tax hikes, rate increases, and debt. There is a social revalidation that provides governability," he added.
Asked about inflation, he stated: "In the budget, we are working with an average inflation rate of 17% for 2026 and 10.1% for the end of the period. It is very pretentious to try to float in a country with so much political volatility."
Caputo lamented Argentina's lack of credibility: "At this point, the Country Risk should be at 300 basis points. But when I can, I give them a hand."
Caputo affirmed: "The essence of the laws we are sending is the direction we want to go. This is a job that takes time."
Regarding currency restrictions for companies, he noted that the more we can advance in lifting the last restrictions, the better, but nothing is particularly urgent for us."
The minister endorsed his new role with greater involvement in political design: "It was a mistake not to get involved earlier. I have a great relationship with the governors, although they know it's hard to get money out of me. This is the time to do it."
"We are in an era change. We squandered credibility, and it's not so easy to recover it."
Quote: "With order in fiscal accounts and in the monetary scheme, sooner or later we will converge to international inflation rates." — Luis Caputo
"The last election was a kind of referendum on whether this is the right path or not. And when they were in government, they did it with issuance," Caputo attacked.
"The minister marked a contrast with the latest decisions on tax cuts and fiscal deficit reduction implemented by the Executive Branch."
"What politicians suffer from the most is public pressure. One must not underestimate what can be done from the private sector," the minister remarked, pointing to the mayor of Pilar, Federico Achával, who applied a 2% rate on purchases in his municipality.
"The mayor of Pilar is an absolute irresponsible person, and it's good that the commotion that was caused was caused, because that is the Argentine cost," he emphasized.
At an event of the IEB Foundation followed by the Argentine News Agency, the minister reiterated that "we are not going to buy dollars like crazy from one day to the next" but against a genuine increase in the demand for pesos.
"We want the accumulation of reserves to be orderly and cheap," the official insisted and reiterated his projections of between $7,000 and $21,000 million.
On the other hand, he once again ratified the continuity of the bands and stated: "That is already agreed with the IMF."
