MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US fully supports IMF in demanding Argentina submits its stats to IMF for review

Senator Lugar asked several questions which Ms Clinton could not answer and were later forwarded in a report

The US government considers Argentine is obliged to submit its economic statistics to be validated by the IMF, and Washington will support all efforts from the multilateral organization so that the objective can be achieved.

“We are most disappointed” that this has not happened so far, Argentina having suspended such annual submission since 2006, said a report from US State Secretary Hillary Clinton distributed among Senators interested in the Argentine situation, according to reports in Buenos Aires daily La Nación.

“We do not believe at all” that such requirement regarding Argentina is going to “dilute” forecasted Ms Clinton, following confirmation that there would be a first partial assessment of Argentine stats next month in Washington.

Reviewing the numbers of every economy “is vital” both to elaborate the IMF monetary evaluation as well as to gauge the stability of the system, said the report from Ms Hillary Clinton.

The release and the existence of such a report occurs when the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in Washington where top officials from Argentina’s economic team will be attending. The report is the result of a questionnaire from Senator Richard Lugar which was sent to the State Department requesting stats on Argentina.

Senator Lugar, as member of the Subcommittee on Latin America asked several questions on Argentina which Secretary of State Ms Clinton was unable to reply during the congressional hearing. However the written replies followed a few days later.

In the report from Ms Clinton there is a critical review of the relation of Argentina with the IMF and also a detailed account of the trade ‘barriers’ implemented by Argentina not only on imports but also on investments.

This refers to several restrictions referred to the remitting of benefits and dividends overseas as well as the compulsory ‘government authorization’ to acquire dollars to finance any overseas purchase.

“Although we are pleased with the increase in exports, 22%, to Argentina, we are also concerned with the measures applied by the Argentine government which set up “barriers to imports and investments” admits the report sent to US Senators.

The report however makes no mention to the recent nationalization process of YPF, and the bilateral meeting held by President Obama with Cristina Fernandez in Colombia since they happened after the document was forwarded.

Likewise the report reveals that US businesspeople with interests in Argentina have appealed to criteria of “confidentiality” when dealing with trade barriers, for obvious reasons, ‘fearing reprisals’.

“We have addressed many times our concerns with those barriers and we will continue to do so at all level”, promised Ms Clinton.

The report however focuses mainly in the difficult relations of Argentina with the IMF and the “deep disappointment” from the US government, since the country has not honoured its commitment to submit stats info to the IMF for review.

The US government believes the IMF will be aware of such a situation at all times, and for this the fund will count with the full support from the US every time it urges Argentina to comply with its obligation.

Finally the report also recalls that the IMF managing board before its next September meeting will evaluate whatever the Argentine government has done on the issue.

In this framework next month the IMF will be making a partial evaluation of the Argentine economy main indicators.