Kicillof and Scioli lead a trade mission in Brazil

The president of the Federation of Industries in Sao Paolo said that Argentina’s current crisis is “not structural, but circumstantial”

Argentina’s ambassador in Brazil, Daniel Scioli, and Governor of Buenos Aires province Axel Kicillof, are leading a trade mission in Sao Paolo, with the goal of increasing exports to Brazil, Argentina’s main trading partner.

“Brazil has a strong will to help us, I see it in every meeting I have with all the government authorities, we are working on financial integration with Brazil”, Scioli said during a lunch he shared with Kicillof and leaders of the Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo (Fiesp) at the headquarters of the entity.

The president of Fiesp, Josué Gomes da Silva, said that Argentina’s current state of the economy “is not a structural issue but a circumstantial issue caused by this shortage of dollars.”

 “We need to have an increasingly stronger integration and, eventually, if we manage to do so, give our support to Argentina in this moment of transition caused by the drought, which was an unexpected event,” he said.

Scioli, who hopes to run for president in this year’s elections, also spoke about the surge in the parallel exchange rates that took the US dollar to AR$ 495 in the informal market today. In a rough day for local finance, the informal dollar jumped by 7% during the day, and the currency exchange gap (brecha) exceeded 120%.

“Evidently, there are speculative maneuvers encouraged from a sector,” he said.

Scioli said that closer relations with Brazil will generate projects for economic growth, among them the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, which will take gas from the shale oil field Vaca Muerta in Neuquén province to the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

“We are working on the financial integration chapter and I am confident that there will be good news soon,” he said.

Scioli, Kicillof, and representatives of forty-four Argentine companies participated in the International Autoparts, Equipment and Services Trade Fair (Feria Automec). 

Kicillof said that there a two economic models in Argentina: “the agro-exporting one, which considers the industry to be a waste of time, and our economic model, where we defend industrial policy to add value and include everyone.”

Kicillof said that there is an ongoing “sabotage” against the country, in which there are sectors pushing for a devaluation. 

—Herald/agencies

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