MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine president called IMF chief and had a half hour conversation

David Hawley, IMF spokesperson confirmed the contact

The IMF confirmed that Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner phoned incoming Managing Director Christine Lagarde last week, a few hours before the Fund reiterated its objections to Argentina’s official statistical data.

Buenos Aires daily La Nacion broke the news earlier this week, but is was only confirmed Thursday.

“It’s something normal, something that occurs frequently with other countries’ authorities” said David Hawley, the IMF spokesperson when asked about the news during a press conference in Washington.

“I can’t give you details of the conversation” said Hawley. However press reports indicate it was a phone call from Cristina Fernandez with the assistance of an interpreter just a few days after Ms Lagarde officially took office in the IMF last July 5.

The IMF recently gave Argentina another six months to improve its official statistics system. There are also non confirmed versions that Argentina is again in talks with the sovereign creditors Club of Paris, although without the participation of the IMF.

La Nacion says the phone call lasted for thirty minutes and was requested through the French embassy in Buenos Aires, under Ambassador Jean-Pierre Asvazadourian.

Not long after the phone call, the IMF board of directors addressed relations with Argentina and the advisory role of the Fund, on Buenos Aires request, to reform the country’s statistics methodology on inflation and growth, which are considered controversial by international organizations and questioned by the Argentine private sector, unions and good neighbours’ pockets.