Kirchner cabinet refutes FT report: no IMF revision of Argentine economy
Argentina is still opposed to having its economy reviewed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), government ministers said on Thursday, refuting recent media reports to the contrary.
Argentina has barred the IMF from doing its annual “Article IV” revision since 2006, arguing the IMF's actions helped precipitate the country's worst-ever economic crisis in 2001-02.
A fresh review is seen as key for the country to strike a deal to repay some 7 billion USD in defaulted debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations.
Asked if the government was willing to accept the routine IMF review, Economy Minister Amado Boudou responded: “No, no. Argentina had a very bad time when the Fund was involved in its policies.”
“All Argentines know what the IMF monitoring has meant for our economy,” Boudou told local TV. Boudou reiterated that the country has no intention of seeking loans from the IMF.
“We don't need them to lend us money. We don't accept the conditions” that could be imposed under a loan agreement, he added.
Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez was quoted as telling the state news agency Telam the government was not willing to accept the economic review, but was committed to resolving its debt with the Paris Club.
The ministers spoke a day after the Financial Times quoted an unnamed senior official as saying President Cristina Kirchner's administration was ready to accept the review, which is conducted with the Fund's 186 member states.
IMF spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson told Argentine financial daily Ambito Financiero that while there were “regular contacts” between the Fund and Argentina's government, the IMF had no plans to send an official mission to the country.
Local media have reported that government officials are divided over whether to try to mend fences with the IMF to refinance the Paris Club debt and further improve the country's access to international financing following a 12.3 billion USD swap of defaulted debt earlier this year.
The other option would be for Argentina to use its international reserves to pay off the entire debt, as it did with the IMF in 2006. But Boudou has downplayed that possibility in recent months.
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Yet another baseless article about Argentina…………….
08/09/10 they publish a ”surprising” article purely based on an ”undisclosed source”
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4e6de450-bb68-11df-a136-00144feab49a.html
The very next day they have to reverse their story
online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100909-712351.html
In the meantime we continue to negotiate a ”better deal” with the Paris Club.
This Bodou kid is quite good at that :-)
PS:
My P.O. is that those 7 billion will be out of the picture just after new-year….
BTW it's U$ 9B+ with past due interest or don't you think you owe the past due interest? It's not like the bondholders they are not going to reduce it and if you don't comply with the IMF audit it must be paid in a lump some which Argentina can't afford.
“It was like a scene out of Le Carré: the brilliant agent comes in from the cold and, in hours of debriefing, empties his memory of horrors committed in the name of an ideology gone rotten.”
after reading four steps tp damnation I wonder why should Argentine tax payers cover the loans given to corrupt politicians who stole the money with the help of IMF and their dictated contracts.
www.guardian.co.uk/business/2001/apr/29/business.mbas
Maybe you are right, and my country is ignoring what it signed regarding the revision of our economy, anyway it's evident that it's not so relevant, because we keep on paying our debts, and now we want to cancel the debt with the club of paris, i hope it happens.
On the other hand, i ought you an answer since a couple of days ago.
Regarding our enterprizes that were recovered by the state, maybe what you say about the tarifs etc etc is true, in that case if my country didn't pay to those private administrations the correspondent sum, it will has to do it, judgments of the justice must be respected.
About protectionism, i think there is a doble standart arround this issue, when i read the international press, i see that some influential nations criticise strongly the protectionism that the government do for our industrys, however my question is, would all those influential nations allow the indiscriminated imports of products, even if those products prejudices their undustrys?, wouden't they apply any protectionist measure?, i think absolutly they would do it.
We must protect our industrys, or we are going to finish like in last decade, when so many factorys were in the broke because they could not compete with those cheap foreign products.
Beside it's totally false that the interference of the state in our economy impides foreign investments, because it represents now 20 points of our gdp, like in brasil, and intern investment represents 23 points.
A few days ago a rode an stadistic that was made in diferent sectors of the country, and the result was that people agrees on the interference of te state in our economy, it's the way we choose to live, and it's as respectable as yours, you should wonder why we choose this way, i already told you that if we would have a serious referent of economic liberalism, maybe people would vote him, but all the referents that we have, are menemist, we know what it is, and we dont want to go back to that shit.
www.google.ca/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&&sa=X&ei=zJKKTKbwGsXflgfqwsy-DA&ved=0CCQQBSgA&q=four+steps+to+damnation+Gregory+Palast&spell=1
Don't be so worryed, the inflation level is hight, it's a problem that must be solved, but it's not out of control, in fact our central bank has a record of reserves wich can paralize any onset in the prize of the dollar, even the most orthodox economists affirm this theory.
Regarding the crimes, is true that many crimes happen, but the reality is not what the press shows all the time, it actually misinforms, in my case i come back to my house everyday in the night, and nothing happened to me, believe me, it's not out of sight, i am not affraid, i only take care of my self, anyway, i agree that some laws must be reformed.
On the other hand, if we want to be objetive, we dont have to criticise only the mistakes of the governments, we must recognize too all the achievements that they made, there are many aspects of the k's administrations that i reject, but like me or not, i have to recognize too tha there are many achievemnets to celebrate.
Anyway, my vote wont go next year for the k, i really hope that ricardo alfonsin becomes into our next president, i am sure he will be an honest person like hes father, he will be able to do all what hes father could not do, however in case that alfonsin does not win the elections, i hope that nestor is elected again, because all the rest of oponent politicians are even 100 times worst than the k, all of them are fervent admirers of menem's policys, and i dont want to go back to that shit.
I rode many of your comments, i think you are right on most you say, but some times i dont agree on your assertions, anyway i respect your opinions.
I agree that your government must protect local industries. Argentinians firms are some of the most un-productive in the world. That is the reason the Peso continues to slide especially relative to the Real. I understand that a lot of people are buying ”hard goods' ie cars refrigerators etc because they are afraid the inflation is out of control and will only get worse. You are repeating the same mistakes you did in the 90s and following Venezuela down the path to ruin. It is too bad no one will do anything about it.
When you dont have any solid argument to hold your assertions, the only one aspect that you can argue, is corruption.
I never denyed that we had, and keep on having corrupt governments, but some of them were worst, like menem's administrations, de la rua's, and duhalde's.
Nowadays, in spite that we have a government wich is suspected of corruption cases, there are also many achievements to celebrate, what you call a failed state, protects much more all our people than any other, and gives full economic support to all those enterprizes wich create more and more jobs, that's the most important for me, beside we have trade realtions with many countrys, specially with our mercosur.
Regarding the fact that if argentina firms are un-productive in the world, that's irrelevant, it's ovious tha it does not impide that our economy keeps on growing, and improving many of the serious problems that we still have in the country.
On the other hand, you assertion about the reason why people buys products because they are affraid of inflation, is the most stupid and twisted conclution i ever rode, if some one thinks that inflation is out of control, he is not going to buy goods, because he will have to keep on paying the quotes, in case that he has real doubts of the inflation level, he wont know if he's salary will be as hight, to pay those quotes, and at the same time, paying the services , eating etc etc.
If he has incertitude, he will just buy dollars, as usuall, but not expensive goods.
Beside i already told you in many oportunitys that inflation is a problem that the gov. musts solve, but it's not out of control, in fact our central bank has a new record of reserves that can paralize any onset in the prize of the dollar, since yesterday we have more than 51 thousand million dollars.
I think that in the deepest of your concience, what you can't tolerate, is that my coutry is not your backyard any more.
I respect your posture, but i only dont agree on most you say.
You may think 51B is a lot of $, but CFK is expecting to spend 7.5B paying interest on debt, 2.5B buying CER bonds so they don't get sued for back payments. 9B is owed to the Paris Club, 3-5B is owed to outstanding judgments from Icsid, 2-3B Bond holdouts. This is what I can remember I am sure there is more. This is 1/2 of the reserves! These debts will all have to be dealt with at sometime the clock is ticking.
Argentina is not backward as compared to Bolvia and Paraguay but you have a long way to go before you can be considered 1st world. You country is falling very quickly behind Brazil and Chile.
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