Economist Luis Rojas and former Finance Minister Benigno López assessed that the austerity measures announced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) through Decree No. 6120 will have a "marginal" impact on the country's public accounts.
For Rojas, the measures are more of a political signal than a substantive solution and were even described as a "smokescreen." "It is more for show, to give the impression that something is being done, but they do not address the underlying problems. This decree is a smokescreen to create a sense of austerity," he said.
The economist questioned why the main factors behind the fiscal deficit are not being tackled, particularly those related to the low capacity for revenue generation. "It has to do with reducing tax evasion, informality, and raising taxes. The famous tax reform and increasing our tax burden, which is so low, is an issue being directly ignored by the Government," he lamented.
Rojas also called for a head-on fight against corruption, a reduction in political appointments, privileges, exorbitant salaries, and the misuse of funds from Itaipú and Yacyretá for electoral purposes. He also warned that public debt continues to grow "rapidly": this year alone, indebtedness has risen by about 10%, representing approximately $1.3 billion, with rising interest payments absorbing an ever-larger share of the public budget.
"These austerity measures are marginal; the fiscal deficit will persist, and it may even increase, and they do not correct the underlying problems," he concluded.
Benigno López, for his part, considered that the measures could partially and temporarily balance the state's coffers during this fiscal year, avoiding a "liquidity meltdown." However, he noted that they should be used as a transition to drive deeper changes, as they remain "insufficient" to improve the country's solvency profile.
"For them to have a meaningful impact, the administration should view them not as an end in themselves, but as a technical truce to clean up the balance sheets before presenting deep legal reform projects. If these measures are exhausted in themselves, we will have merely witnessed another round of crisis management, which, as is customary, will run into the same problems again when the next budget cycle begins," López argued, warning that without structural reforms, the same fiscal problems will continue to recur and could undermine the country's fiscal credibility.