MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner complains about IMF incompetence

Argentine president Nestor Kirchner called in Germany for a “restructuring” of multilateral credit organizations and argued that the Argentine debt swap was successful because it left out the IMF and acted opposite to Fund's recommendations.

Addressing the Social Democrat Foundation Friedrich Ebert in Berlin Mr. Kirchner blasted the IMF "imported and imposed models" that are only interested in recovering growth benefits.

"My country for having followed these recipes just recently suffered one of the worst socio-economic catastrophes of its existence which exploded at the end of 2001", he said adding that this was the consequence of a political and economic model contrary to public interest, "favouring the proliferation of genocide, thieves and corruption".

Mr. Kirchner said Argentina was interested in an active and constructive participation of a new world order, but without giving up "its decisions autonomy".

He further complained that as Argentina advances in the solution of its debt and financial problems, "IMF keeps making more and more demands".

International financial organizations have helped "consolidate marginality and exclusion in the world" and again accused the IMF of promoting Argentina's growing indebtness and "speculative economy" in the nineties.

Mr. Kirchner described as a "swindle" the Argentine bonds issued before he reached office and regretted having to receive the legacy of a "devastated, bankrupt and looted" country.

"When Argentina's foreign debt reached 170 billion US dollars we faced an extreme situation, the country lost fear and stood at the verge of disintegration", emphasized Mr. Kirchner who then revealed that "we did virtually the opposite to what the IMF recommended", because if not "we'd had to auction Argentina".

"Yes, we did a bond swap leaving aside the IMF and therefore we're committed to honouring those bond holders who trusted in us. But now we've achieved it the IMF is concerned about the remaining 24%, so are we".

The Argentine president added that in the last two years the country had repaid the IMF 11,5 billion US dollars.

Obviously, "this type of organizations doesn't understand the problems of our region and reality is going to prove that they are becoming more and more incompetent".

Finally Mr. Kirchner accused the multilateral credit organizations of promoting countries "indebtness" and forecasted that under these conditions the IMF has no future.