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Bloomberg
Argentine Central Bank President Luis Caputo ditched a traditional press conference about monetary policy and instead held a question-and-answer session — with his own staff.
It was the central bank’s first quarterly monetary policy report under Caputo, who took over the helm of the institution on June 14. His predecessor, Federico Sturzenegger, used to hold a press conference with journalists after each report. This time, a staff member asked questions about monetary policy and Caputo’s answers were posted on the bank’s website, said a spokesperson for the bank without explaining why the communication strategy changed.
In the Q&A, Caputo said he’s convinced the central bank has taken the right steps to cool inflation.
“The measures we’re taking are going in the right direction to achieve lower, sustainable inflation,†he said according to the transcript.
Since Caputo arrived, the central bank has increased reserve requirements for commercial banks, sold $100 million in the foreign exchange market per day, and stopped financing the Treasury Ministry. The measures are intended at easing losses in the peso, the worst-performing emerging market currency, with losses of 32 percent so far this year.
The peso has broadly stabilized since Caputo became the new central bank chief, despite some volatility. Argentina’s benchmark interest rate stands at 40 percent, the highest of any monetary authority in the world.