MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Breaking News.

Headlines:
Top marks for President Kirchner; Mending fences with investors.

Top marks for President Kirchner.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner retains a good image for 84% of the population, five months after taking office according to the latest public opinion poll published this Sunday in the Buenos Aires press.

A majority of Argentines also believe the situation of the country has improved since last May and those initiatives most praised by the population are those "to combat corruption in government".

Five months ago those who had a "very good" image of Mr. Kirchner totalled 35% and now have dropped to 15%, however those who have a "good" image have grown from 56 to 69%.

This means that eight out of ten Argentines have a good opinion of Mr. Kirchner.

The OPSM public opinion poll also shows that for a majority of Argentines the overall situation of the country has improved since Mr. Kirchner took office. Actually those who described the situation as "very good" or "good" have grown from 13 to 22%, while those who felt the situation was "bad" or "very bad" dropped from 40 to 30%.

Besides 78% of Argentines feel the situation will continue to improve, which represents a slight increase from the 75% of last May. Nevertheless those forecasting the worse have gone from 1,2% to over 3%.

Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna with a 67% approval is second rated behind president Kirchner.

The poll was taken during the second week of October by Enrique Zuleta Puceiro with 1,100 interviews in 65 different cities and towns of Argentina.

Mending fences with investors

The Argentine Senate is expected to approve in the coming days legislation that will give the President Kirchner administration the tools to address some of the more controversial issues that are a source of constant irritation with foreign investors.

The legislation that passed the Lower House and crucial Senate Committees enables the Argentine government to increase public utilities rates, to modify the financial system and the Central Bank chart.

The first two are particularly significant since foreign investors with the support of their governments (mainly Spain, Italy and France) are demanding an immediate adjustment of the privatized public utilities rates frozen since December 2001. Similarly reforming the financial system could also include compensations for banks that suffered greatly with the devaluation of the Argentine peso and massive default.

The International Monetary Fund has also been pressing on these two issues.

Related legislation will further contemplate small mortgage takers since banks that were forced to "pesify" (convert US dollars debts in devalued pesos at an exchange of 1 to 1,40) in 2002, will now be allowed to gradually recover assets.

The Kirchner administration admits it's a subsidy for mortgages nominated in US dollars "but it comes down to benefiting small only home owners and not the banking system".

Other legislation gives the Argentine Internal Revenue further powers to combat tax evasion and elusion, including the suspicion of possible income from undeclared fiscal paradises. The Tax Procedure Bill increases sanctions and fines for billing related offences. (A common "sport" in many South American countries).-