MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IMF chief wants “constructive dialogue” with Argentina but warns about stats

Christine Lagarde, ‘no concessions on official data’

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said on Thursday that she wants a “constructive dialogue” with Argentina, while at the same time warned that she is not willing to make any “concessions” in terms of the quality of official data the IMF receives from member countries.

During a news conference before the IMF General Assembly, held in Washington DC, Lagarde remarked “I want to have a constructive dialogue with Argentina, and I see no reason for which we cannot have it”.

Likewise, Lagarde indicated that “The president (Cristina) Fernández de Kirchner has assured me that we should continue to have a constructive dialogue and I hope we do.”

At the same time however, the head of the IMF made it clear that under her mandate, the financial institution will not make concessions on official data expected from member nations on issues such as inflation or growth.

This is one of the sticking points that the IMF has long maintained with Argentina, and has led the international credit organization to make particular remarks on the Argentine case when it comes to publish its projections for global growth warning that the official figures provided by the Argentina’s INDEC Statistics Bureau Agency are substantially different from those provided by private analysts and provincial governments, as it did in its last World’s Economic Outlook report released two days ago.

Until “the quality of data reporting has improved, IMF staff will also use alternative measures of GDP growth and inflation for macroeconomic surveillance including estimates by: private analysts, which have shown growth that is, on average, significantly lower than official GDP growth from 2008 onward; and provincial statistical offices and private analysts, which have shown inflation considerably higher than the official inflation rate from 2007 onward”.

Thus, Lagarde stressed that even though the requirement of reliable data “may sometimes be considered as a constraint, and slightly challenging, it is critical that we can rely on solid data since that's what helps us provide quality work.”