De Gregorio: We can't ask the government to do our job and control inflation

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SANTIAGO.- The president of the Central Bank, José De Gregorio, affirmed today that other entities, such as the executive branch, should not be asked to do the work of the issuing institution in controlling inflation. These comments were in reference to the budget for the coming year and its influence on inflating prices.

The economist posed that for now there are signs that public spending will not expand in 2009, and the Central Bank is taking actions based on that assumption.

Regardless, De Gregorio explained that if the Treasury does not "behave" (in relation to public spending and its inflationary impact), a greater adjustment will have to be made to control price hikes.

The head of the issuing institution also explained that the risk implied in the price increases is that salaries will be increased relative to inflationary expectations. Despite this, he stated that current salary adjustments have generally been coherent with the economic inflationary scenario, but that there is still a risk that they could be disproportionate in the future.