Melconian said the dollar is lagging: “Inflation ate the mattress”

In a radio interview on Sunday, economist Carlos Melconian analyzed the economic outlook in Argentina and said that the value of the dollar is lagging, which is why he later said that “inflation has eaten up the mattress.” Given the predictions of different consultancies about inflation in March, which will apparently be slightly lower than the 13.6% in February, not all economists believe that this is the path to an improvement in the Argentine economy. In an interview with Ignacio Ortelli for the program Si Pasa Pasa, Melconian analyzed the country’s economic outlook and explained his deductions. “We have to recover the idea of economic growth, of investment, of the return flow of capital. The exchange rate delay, if there is one today, is not because there is an inflow of capital or investment but because inflation has eaten up the mattress,” he said. Along these lines, he said: “The dollar at $1000 is a dollar, a good dollar, and the $850 is a good number. From now on, inflation can’t go to 9% and you can’t go to 2%, all that ended badly, in 1975, in 1980, in 2001, in 2011.” He also pointed out that the leadership of the country must “avoid being in the hands of dogmatists and pragmatists, it is not a pancake weathervane, that made us always clash; You have to be careful not to always surround yourself with the same stick of dogmatism.” Regarding the impact of inflationary growth and the slow increase in wages, the economist said that “people get up, go to work and want to see when their quality of life improves, when credit comes.” On the other hand, he referred to the government’s plan and questioned the lack of a “stability program.” It is very important that in the governance stage there is a stability program, because only when it is noticed that there is stability and it has a patent to stay there can the investment begin, which is growth, labor and that’s where the salary flies. The longer it takes, the longer it takes. The rest is all story!, he said.

Original source in Spanish