MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine economy “is doing fine and prospects are good”

Economy minister Carlos Fernandez

Argentine Economy minister Carlos Fernandez denied on Monday a slowdown of activity and insisted that the “economy of Argentina is doing fine”, adding that “prospects are good”.

Mr. Fernandez remarks were done in Tucuman during a break of the Mercosur meeting of finance ministers and central bankers, sweeping aside comments by some market experts who argue that the farmers/government 100-day conflict has had a cost for the Argentine economy, which is now in a "cooling" stage. "Signals are good and prospects positive", underlined Fernandez adding that the government was involved in ensuring that the impact of high international prices for food and fuel do not have a major impact on the domestic prices level. "We all know there's a big challenge with the high international prices for commodities, which obviously have a repercussion and we must try to soften its impact on the national economy. We're working on it and we think we are doing a reasonable job", underlined Fernandez. Regarding the farmers' conflict Fernandez said hopes are that it comes to an end "for the good of all of us". Argentine farmers have been protesting for over three months the Kirchner administration last March decision to apply a sliding export tax on grains and oilseeds. During that time farmers have blocked roads, impeded the export of grains and oilseeds causing a serious recession in some of the provinces which most depend on agriculture. The Kirchner administration argues it has a right to tax windfall earnings to help redistribute income in Argentina. Farmers say that the March decree, now sent to Congress for discussion, completely distorts farming activities. "The camp's lock out with road blocks has affected the economy of the interior of the country but as roads have been cleared economic variables are rapidly accommodating", said Fernandez. The Argentine economy has been expanding for the last five years running and according to government statistics continued to grow at an annual 8.5% during the first four months of 2008.