BA Province asks national government to accelerate financial aid

Buenos Aires Province Economy Minister Silvina Batakis came on stage an replied Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino’s earlier comments, when the latter criticized the provincial administration for issuing debt.

Batakis retorted that "the province is always in need of funding" and stressed that "issuing debt is not bad if it’s done to provide essential services."

Likewise, Batakis called the national government to take immediate definitions on the case.

“We need to have definitions of the national government, to see how we will coordinate financial assistance", the official said in a conversation with Radio Mitre and stressed that "this dialogue must be between the Governor (Daniel Scioli) and the President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.”

To end, Batakis assured that the 2013 Budget "has all public servants wage payments guaranteed", but said "anyway, we have a structural problem, whereby the province is always in need of funding.”

On his part, Lorenzino remarked that "the National Government, in this whole process, has never stopped assisting the province of Buenos Aires, and never denied any borrowing authorization to its administration. The total financial aid transfers made ??by the national government to the BA province grew by 168% between 2007 and 2012. "