He returned to the scene again. quasi-currency Rioja, after having been announced by Ricardo Quintela months ago. Recently, the provincial leader confirmed that part of the salaries of senior public administration officials will be in “Chacho”, the quasi-currency of La Rioja.
Since January, the president has been authorized to issue Debt Cancellation Bonds (Bocade) that will be used as currency at the provincial level, but he has been postponing it. Now, as confirmed, “the first consignment will enter circulation starting in May – between approximately the 15th and the 25th” and will be used to pay a “minimum percentage in the salary of public officials, such as legislators, members of the Superior Court of Justice and some chamber judges.”
“We don’t want to flood the square and we want it to be an attractive bonus, a bonus valued by society. We intend for salaries to exceed inflation. For that, we want to protect ourselves with bonds whose recovery will be the responsibility of the province,” the governor stressed about that measure.
Quintela justified the decision because the national government “owes La Rioja the co-participable funds” since October of last year, for an amount of more than 80 million dollars. Thus, he indicated, with the Chacho the payment of salaries is “guaranteed” and implies an “injection of currency for economic activity through salary increases.”
“Given the attitude of the President towards La Rioja, we decided to take measures that will alleviate the damage that is intended to be inflicted on us,” he said in statements to La Nueva Mañana.
The Rioja Legislature authorized the provincial government to issue this bond for $22.5 billion. According to Politikon Chaco, the province depends on around 90% of the Nation’s national remittances, and current income fell by 40.1% this year. Faced with this scenario, Quintela advanced with the chainsaw at the local level. Personnel expenses are 33.1% below the same period in 2023 and consumption expenses (goods and services) are 44.3% lower.
Of 24 subnational districts, La Rioja was in 2023 and in previous years the most dependent on “current and capital transfers” (excluding “automatic” ones due to co-participation and own collection) from the national government. These explained almost a fifth (19.5%) of their total income. Given the complicated financial situation in Rioja, in the middle of the 2023 electoral campaign, Quintela threatened to resign if Milei won the elections.
However, the resignation finally did not take place, but the accusations and conflicts with the libertarian president were recurrent from the beginning. The governor filed a claim with the Supreme Court of Justice for a debt of almost $10,000 million. In April, the province received $478 million in non-automatic transfers from the Nation, the amount of which is 97.7% lower than a year ago in real terms.
Source: Infobae
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