MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine business leaders urge government to “stop denying inflation”

Hugo Moyano the labour leader who anticipated unions would be asking for 30% salary increases

The head of Argentina’ powerful Business Leaders Association (ADE) urged the government to “stop denying inflation” and rejected the notion that businessmen are responsible for price hikes.

“In order to begin solving the problem of inflation they have to start telling the truth and stop the lies coming from the State Statistics Bureau INDEC” said Mariano Caucino during a round of radio interviews Thursday in Buenos Aires.

Caucino recommended that, since the government doesn’t trust any statistics coming from private consultants, they should ask the unions’ General Confederation of Labour leader Hugo Moyano for what the thinks the real inflation rate is.

“The government’s first ally, Hugo Moyano, knows that the current inflation rate is through the roof and that’s why he’s asking for a 30% wage increase” explained Caucino.

The ADE chief said that “if the President, the Economy Minister and the Domestic Trade Secretary refuse to believe what private consultants say, they should ask Moyano for advice.”

“Their demands for higher salaries are due to an extremely high inflation and not because unions have gone crazy” he concluded.

Meantime cabinet chief Anibal Fernandez downplayed the inflation claims saying that there is no such thing as “an overall increase of prices”, and inflation is not an issue that worries since the government “has solved it”.

Fernandez ratified (following on public statements from President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Economy Minister Amado Boudou and Domestic Trade Secretary Moreno) that the government is looking into the best way to discourage “some cases” of price increases.

As President Cristina Kirchner explained with great precision, “there’s not such thing as inflation, what we have are price increase in some cases” which the government is taking care off with all its tools. “What we really have is an immense dispersion, distortion of which the opposition is trying to take advantage”, argued Fernandez.