(Buenos Aires) Several thousand people demonstrated on Wednesday in Buenos Aires, preparing for some of them to camp overnight in front of the presidency, to demand a salary increase, on the eve of the announcement of the inflation index for July which should further reduce purchasing power.
Posted yesterday at 7:52 p.m.
The demonstrators, at the call of organizations located to the left of the government of Alberto Fernandez, converged, without incident, towards Plaza de Mayo, seat of the presidency, and of the Ministry of Economy in an adjacent street.
At nightfall, a few hundred tents were erected in the square or on the road itself, small fires or improvised barbecues to music, by the demonstrators who have been asking to be received by the new Minister of the Economy Sergio Massa since one week.
Left-wing organizations denounce the timidity of the government’s social measures, more concerned, according to them, with reassuring the financial markets than with cushioning the inflationary shock for the underprivileged strata.
Among their demands is a significant hike in the minimum wage, from 45,540 pesos ($325 at the official exchange) to 105,000 pesos ($744), the estimated value of the food basket for a family of four to stay above the threshold. of poverty.
They are also demanding a bonus of 20,000 pesos ($143) for retirees, vulnerable self-employed workers and precarious workers.
“The minister (Massa) addressed the markets, the economic powers, but did not provide any response to the popular sectors on how to mitigate an endless inflationary process”, denounced Eduardo Belliboni, leader of the Polo Obrero, one of the main organizations at the heart of the event.
The rally, which follows similar mobilizations in recent weeks, comes on the eve of the publication of the inflation index for July, which according to the forecasts of several economists, could be, around 7%, the highest of the current year.
Argentina’s economy, notoriously unstable, experienced a particularly feverish month of July, with the surprise resignation of the Minister of Economy for two years Martin Guzman, a brief interim by Silvina Batakis, and the government’s so far unsuccessful efforts to curb inflation at 36.2% for the first half, 64% over the last twelve months.
Minister Massa announced on Wednesday a boost (+15.53%) for pensions, family allowances, despite the objective of budgetary discipline to which Argentina committed itself within the framework of its agreement, in March, with the IMF for the refinancing of its debt.