MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IMF delays report on Argentina’ controversial economic data reporting

Lagarde called on Argentina to improve the quality of data on CPI and GDP

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided it will not “release any communiqué regarding Christine Lagarde report over Argentina's statistics,” the press department announced. It is expected that the report with the analysis of the Board of Directors will be released on Tuesday.

The IMF Board of Directors analyzed on Monday Argentina’s statistics and the government’s level of commitment to the entity’s recommendations.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice had informed last week, “The managing director (Christine Lagarde) will inform the board on Monday about Argentina.“

”It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to anticipate such an intervention, or to anticipate that decision,” added Gerry, when asked whether Argentina will be sanctioned during a press conference in Washington.

The IMF claimed the following action: ”Improve the quality of the data reported over the Consumer Prices Index (IPC) and the GDP, so that the data turns consistent with the obligations stated by the IMF Constitutive Agreement.”

The communiqué had been delayed because of some issues that were still being analyzed, according to the IMF.

Argentina has been accused of under-reporting its economic data. Those concerns prompted the IMF to issue a 180-day warning to Buenos Aires on Feb. 1 to bring the data in line with global standards or face the possibility of sanctions.

Initiating sanctions would be part of a gradual process that could range from public reprimand to eventual expulsion. Only the former Czechoslovakia has ever been thrown out of the IMF ranks, which occurred in 1954.

Some private economists have questioned whether Argentina has under reported inflation since 2007, while others have expressed increasing scepticism over the country's economic growth and industrial output figures.

The country reported 8.9% growth in 2011, but independent analysts have said the government overstated that number by as much as 3 percentage points. The government has denied any data manipulation.