Kirchner sowing for next year’s presidential election

Saturday, August 7th 2010 - 05:51 UTC

Full article 62 comments

The Argentine presidential couple committed to retain office

Argentina's government, unions and industry leaders agreed this week to raise the minimum wage by 23%, more than twice the official annual inflation running at 11%.

The minimum salary will rise in two phases to 1,840 pesos (458.28 US dollars) a month in January, from 1,500 a month now. The first rise, to 1,740 pesos, will come into effect in September. This is the seventh straight year the government has raised the minimum wage.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner administration and her predecessor Nestor Kirchner have been accused since early 2007 of meddling with inflation and other sensitive data for the economy.

In Argentina, wage increases are closely watched as a gauge of true price pressures. Private forecasts put the real rate of consumer price increases at least twice the official rate.

Opposition politicians and economic analysts say the government has been low-balling price rises for political gain and to save money on inflation-indexed debt repayments. “We will continue to maintain the purchasing power of the workers because this is the cornerstone of our policies” Mrs. Kirchner said in a speech earlier in the week before the agreement was reached.

The announcement of the minimum wage increase comes as Argentina begins to gear up for the 2011 presidential election. Mrs. Kirchner is expected to step aside to let her husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner run for re-election as the presidential couple seeks to take turns in power.

Last week the Kirchner administration announced a hike of pensions and welfare benefits in a quest to regain the initiative on popular measures backed by the opposition.

Categories: Politics, Argentina.

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harrier61
Typical. Bribe the population for votes. But note that this minimum wage is only equivalent to £1.75 per hour based on a 40-hour week. In the UK, the minimum wage is £5.80 per hour.
Aug 07th, 2010 - 09:16 am 0
Frank
In Australia the minimum wage is $13US or UKP8.13 an hour... got to tell you the cost of living in Australia isn't 5 times that in Argentina...
Aug 07th, 2010 - 11:10 am 0
Think
To make things easier for the “Turnips”:

Gross annual minimum wage per year in “international Dollars”

Argentina: 9.188 Intl. Dollars a year. (before the +22% rise)
Argentina: 11.100 Intl. Dollars a year. (after the recent +22% rise)
Japan: 11.275 Intl. Dollars a year.
USA: 15.080 Intl. Dollars a year.
Canada: 16.738 Intl. Dollars a year.
Australia: 20.140 Intl. Dollars a year.
UK: 22.204 Intl. Dollars a year.
Denmark: 23.590 Intl. Dollars a year.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country

Freaking good for a Country that was bankrupt nine (9) years ago!
We are paying fair minimum wages and keeping international competitivety.
Whats wrong with that?
Aug 07th, 2010 - 12:26 pm 0

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