Sunday, March 18, 2012

'It’s unfair to accuse the gov’t of squandering CB reserves,' Deputy Heller

National Deputy and government’s ally, Carlos Heller, said that it is unfair to accuse the the administration of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of squandering Central Bank reserves given the exponential reserves increase witnessed in recent years.

The head of the Lower House’s Finance committee emphasized to reporters that “It's kind of unfair to accused the government of squandering the CB’s foreign currency reserves when we all remember that when it started in power, there were only 11 billion dollars in reserves, and now has increased them to 47 billion dollars.”

"The amount of required reserves of a country must be given by the analysis of a set of factors. We must take into account the external accounts, foreign trade, and the dollarization of deposits. All those factors will tell what the optimal level of reserves is.”

Heller’s comments come after last week the Lower House passed a bill to reform the Central Bank charter which will allow the CB to release more funds for the payment of debt and the increase of the national Treasury.