Gabriela Cerruti denied that there are 400% rate increases

The president’s spokeswoman, Gabriela Cerutti, today denied that ballots are arriving with a 400% increase. “It is not true that there is a 400% increase in rates“, he assured, after complaints from users about the amounts they have to pay.

At his usual press conference, when asked about increases recorded on ballots of up to 400%, he said: “It’s not true. there are no 400% increases in any rate from last year to today. The increases are what you know.’

In addition, he recalled: “What was taken as a parameter for those who could or could not register for subsidies was not an exact number, but rather had to do with a percentage that changed as a minimum, vital and mobile. Today you can register and it is open the registration to receive the gas and electricity subsidy for all those who earn less than 700 thousand pesos“.

On the other hand, he insisted:The increase they had is steady and it cannot be more than 80% of the salary, minimum, vital and mobile. If we are talking about those who received a rate increase, we are talking about the part of Argentina that earns a salary that has a family income of more than 700,000 pesos. We are talking about those who we believe can pay this increase, the rest of the users can sign up to receive the subsidy.”

In the last year, electricity bills for high-income users (the N1 level, as defined in the government-promoted tariff tiering regime), accumulated an increase of up to 473% in nominal terms and 164% in nominal terms. terms, according to data from the consulting company Economía y Energía. But the monthly impact materialized in the bills that reached users these days.

This happens when The Department of Energy has approved a new rate increase starting in August, which will be about 4% for high-income residential users – who will no longer have the subsidy – and for those with medium incomes whose monthly consumption is greater than 400 KWh, with the aim of reducing costs for energy subsidies. With this new rate increase, accounts in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Buenos Aires (AMBA) will collect five adjustments a year (February, April, May, June and August) for high and middle income users.

The increase did not reach low-income households (tier 2), based on the government’s stratification scheme, but The effects reached households or businesses at other levels, even self-employed workers or pensioners who did not sign up to keep the subsidies.

According to what LA NACION reported yesterday, there are several cases in which users received strong increases in their electricity and gas bills. One Edenor North zone user, who asked to remain anonymous, had a 400% year-over-year increase in his residence rate: went from $11,414.3 to $57,752.96, despite having similar energy demand. This is a case of too much consumption for a house.

José, 45, who ironically calls himself “a pituquito from Recoleta” (referring to the expression used by Córdoba’s elected governor, Martín Llaryora), said that In August 2022, the Edesur bill he paid was $1,437, while in July this year he had to pay $7,438. “A 417% increase in a few months,” he lamented.

Another user from the Luján region also angrily exposed the invoices in which the amount due on August 14, 2022 can be compared with the amount due on the same date this year. In the first, he owes the Luján Electric Cooperative $4,422.86, while in the latter the figure jumped to $24,925.36, marking an increase of 468%.

Mario, 53, who lives in El Challao, Greater Mendoza, says this He received a bi-monthly bill in which he had to pay $37,958 every month, while in the same period in 2022 he had to pay $14,791 every month. In addition, the man said that from May to August the amount of the bill almost quintupled. “Endemsa would be nice [la empresa que brinda el servicio eléctrico allí] mention more and anticipate how much it will increase depending on the level of consumption which in winter is more. How do I pay four times more than three months ago? And how much will it increase in the next two months?” he argued.

On another order he was asked if he reaffirmed his statements about the absence of malnutrition in Argentina and he said:It is not true that six out of 10 children in Argentina are hungry. When one manages from a government and sees the overall film, one has to differentiate the photos of an NGO from the overall scenario in Argentina.”

He then insisted: “If you look at the global picture of Argentina, there are specific cases of malnutrition, but there is malnutrition related to cultural issues and difficult access to food and in places that are far from urban centers. There may be specific situations where there are things to be resolved.”

In addition, he emphasized that those who go through “cases where they cannot access a nominal wage because they are informal or do not have a job, receive help from the national government through the food card or other social schemes”.

On the other hand, Cerruti, criticized the proposals of the opposition in the framework of the election campaign for the open, simultaneous and mandatory primaries (PASO) on August 13 and assured that they “refer to the worst moment in Argentina”.

“Those who are candidates of the opposition are already in the government. “They say they’re going to end severance pay, they’re going to go back to labor reform, they’re going to implement the so-called ‘Banelco law,’ from when Patricia Bullrich was an Alliance employee who reported on paying bribes in the Senate,” he said of the inquiry brought forward in 2000 into the payment of wills in that House for the approval of the reform, after the approval of the MPs.

In this sense, Cerruti added that the opposition candidates “They say they are going to privatize the companies again so that a few will take the money of the Argentines and not work.”

“These proposals take us to the worst moment of Alianza and macrismo, the two moments governed by those who present themselves today with ideas that fill us with deep concern, but we understand that citizens do not want to return to the past and are not going to choose these proposals ».

On the other hand, Cerutti criticized those who say that a year after Massa took over as finance minister, the administration’s balance sheet is negative.

“All economic indicators have improved. Although inflation is still a problem that Massa and President Alberto Fernández are working on and it is a problem for the vast majority of people,” he said.

He also claimed that he is “conducting the negotiations” with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “in the best possible way”, for this reason he has sought “different options” to pay the deadlines, such as “the exchange with China and the loan from CAF,” which “unlike the IMF, they don’t have conditions or ask Argentina what it should do or stop doing,” he said.

Cerruti praised the efforts of President Alberto Fernández and de Massa before the IMF and, after the minister’s announcement last Monday, argued that “those who raised specters” of a possible failure in the negotiations, “are today shaking certainty and calm”. .

In this regard, he assured that “the expression “all economic indicators give bad results is a lie, all give good results, people live it in their daily lives” and emphasized that Masha “took over the economy at a very difficult time”. in which “some numbers were dizzying” for “the instability that had been caused by the changes» at the Palacio de Hacienda in July 2022, after former minister Martín Guzmán resigned and was replaced by Silvina Batakis.

“We have grown in employment, in the patenting of automobilesis one of the first governments in recent years to complete three consecutive years of growth”, he emphasized, while pointing out the improvements in “exports, investment in science and health“.

On the other hand, Cerruti highlighted the increase in the income tax floor, announced today and which will take effect a few days after STEP, for dependent workers to $700,875 gross per month, as well as the retroactive increase in the January scales. by 35%.

The official attributed this change in Earnings to “the new registered job numbers to be announced” and that, she predicted, they would show “34 months of growth” uninterrupted.

“Massa raised the income tax floor again,” said Cerutti, who compared the decision to that of former president Mauricio Macri, who said when he ran in 2015 “he said he would eliminate it and he didn’t. .”

THE NATION

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