MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Boudou says ‘house in order’ as President Cristina Fernandez prepares for the comeback

Boudou next to Minister Lorenzino during his last presentation as acting president

In his last public appearance as Argentine acting President, Vice-President Amado Boudou announced on Tuesday the figures of 2011’s fiscal surplus and gave a strong defence of the Kirchner economic inclusive development model.

Tuesday midnight President Cristina Fernández medical leave of absence is over and she will resume her duties Wednesday morning. She will head a rally in the Government House and is expected to be accompanied by Governors, lawmakers, ministers and human rights activists.

Boudou urged people to understand the figures of the economy within their context, recalled that President Cristina Fernández governed without a Congress-approved Budget in 2011 and stressed that funds destined to the foreign debt reduction dropped significantly.

“The figures are impressive because during 2011 the foreign debt represented 14.1% of GDP, while in 2002 it represented 166% of GDP and this has been possible due to growth policies” the Vice-president said, alongside Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino and Treasury Secretary Juan Carlos Pezoa.

He added that the overall Argentine context shows not only sustained growth and consumers’ confidence, but unemployment is down to 7.1% and the trade surplus in 2011 reached 10 billion dollars.

In his last rally as acting President, Boudou announced that the primary surplus reached close to 5 billion pesos (over a billion dollars) in 2011 and that the economy grew 9.2%.

However the 5 billion Pesos figure is down from 25.1 billion Pesos in 2010.

In 2011 the Argentine economy experienced an overall fiscal deficit of 30.5 billion Pesos compared with a surplus of 3 billion Pesos the previous year. Last month, Argentina had a primary budget deficit of 8.1 billion Pesos and an overall deficit of 22.3 billion Pesos, according to the report.

“We have kept the numbers in order even with such a complex international context,” Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino told reporters. Last month’s deficit was after a payment on warrants linked to economic growth that was issued as part of a 2005 debt restructuring, he said. Last year 35.6 billion Pesos were paid in concept of interests while in 2010 the total was 22.1 billion Pesos.

“Historically there’s a deficit in December,” Lorenzino said.

Argentina will continue to use central bank reserves to pay debt this year, within the limits set by the law, Lorenzino said. The government, which, according to the budget, plans to use 5.7 billion dollars of such funds to service debt in 2012, is only allowed to draw on reserves that exceed the monetary base, according to current legislation.

International reserves fell to 46.7 billion dollars on January 23 from as high as 52 billion in January last year, according to central bank data.