MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine Air Force virtually grounded following drastic spending cuts

Minister Rossi caught taking a nap during the 103rd anniversary celebration of the Argentine Air Force

Difficult times for the Argentine Air Force, not only was the Minister of Defense Agustín Rossi caught asleep during the celebration of the service's anniversary, but also as of next Tuesday administrative staff at the headquarters Edificio Condor will be working a shorter shift, from 08:00 in the morning to 13:00 hours with the purpose of savings in power and other supplies as well as rationing catering.

 “Headquarters will only provide rations to the personnel from the security, shifts and residents in the Aeroparque premises and the minimum necessary for the functioning of heads of staff, different departments and commands”, according to an internal release which was leaked to the Buenos Aires media.

Apparently this severe restriction in spending is because of mounting debts and scarcer budget funds, including returning to the oil and gas company YPF, the sum of 200 million Pesos equivalent 20 million dollars.

The idea of cutting the number of daily working hours, allegedly was being considered for months and could be followed by further limiting the number of working days from Monday to Thursday for the Air Force administrative staff. Likewise, any aircraft that for any reason has to be grounded, for the rest of the fiscal year will remain as such.

Instructions are that civilian and military staff must be limited to a minimum, keeping to the shorter working day and with a daily report of all expenses from the different departments.

The only previous recent record of such drastic measures goes back to mid 2001, when the Argentine Army implemented the so called “partial inactivity” agenda, including cutting the week to four working days.

This was in anticipation of the major financial situation Argentina suffered in 2001/2002, when the economy melted, the country defaulted on 100bn dollars in sovereign debt and in the space of a week had five different presidents.