Argentina Draws Plan to Slash Fiscal Deficit, Slow Inflation
- Last year's deficit was widest in 30 years, Prat-Gay says
- Government will take gradual approach to reducing shortfall
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Argentina intends to reduce its fiscal deficit to 1 percent of gross domestic product and bring down annual inflation to about 5 percent by the time newly-elected President Mauricio Macri finishes his term in 2019.
The government will take a gradual but firm approach to tackling the budget shortfall, aiming at reducing it by 1 percentage point this year from 5.8 percent of GDP in 2015, the widest in 30 years, Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said at a news conference Wednesday. That gap increases to 7.1 percent of GDP when tax rebates are included, he said.