In today’s meeting to start the new legislative year, the fifth such occasion since President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s election in 2007, the president defended the policy of subsidies and the economic model since 2003.
The president’s speech, which was preceded by a moment of silence for the victims of last week’s train accident in Once, reiterated the strengths of the policies of the past nine years and cited accomplishments in social programs, industry growth, and imports.
“Argentina is still going through one of its most prosperous stages in terms of economic growth, within a delicate global situation,” the president said.
She further pointed out that the IMF has placed Argentina third behind China and India in terms of economic growth in 2011. Areas such as construction and healthcare were given emphasis as signs that the country’s growth is raising employment and extending to vulnerable sectors of the population.
Specifically, the president aimed to defend her trade and subsidy policies from critics.
“I want to demystify and respond to voices who say that defending national industry and establishing a foreign trade administration is sacrilege,” Fernández de Kirchner said. “We are a country that has imported significantly, compared to those who say we put up protectionist barriers.”
The president cited figures from among the G-20 indicating that Argentina showed the second greatest increase in imports during 2011.
Among other points discussed were the effectiveness of the universal child allowance program, the payment of Boden 2012 bonds to remunerate citizens for money lost in the “Corralito”, and relations with the Spanish-Argentina oil company YPF.
“I never tire of appealing to unity, organisation, and the right information for everyone,” said the president. “All those who have responsibilities as governors, mayors, legislators, businessmen, labour and social leaders, and citizens generally have a clear awareness of the world in which we live and the country we have built through the efforts of everyone.”
