MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
IMF report on Argentina: good, but watch out borrowing to finance the budget deficit
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday raised its outlook for Argentina’s economic growth to 2.8% in 2017, up from 2.5% seen in October, while keeping its forecast for 2018 growth steady at 2.5%. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesMurder rate in Mendoza down almost 40% since 2014...
Jan 02nd, 2018 - 04:15 am - Link - Report abuse 0151
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murders are back down to the important 5 per 100k line. Getting into the 4 per 100 would put Mendoza in the highest good rating of murder levels in the world (under 5).
Macri invited the IMF back and now (unlike the WTO it has to be said, who ended up having to criticise his authoritarianism from the left!) they are pushing him to be even more extreme. 2018 could be an even bleaker year for Argentina than 2017, with only Cristina's resolute opposition as a beacon of hope.
Jan 02nd, 2018 - 12:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What's your point Troll, good news if true but do you put that down to Macri? To the IMF???
My point was it happened both under CFK and Macri. That when you get tough on crime especially the repeat offrnders and put them away, alongside more education, you can see results. 90% Most murders in this country aren't about robbers or economic emergency, they are about crimes of passion, business deals (drugs) gone wrong, or alcohol influenced. Education and harsher sentences are having results since 2014.
Jan 02nd, 2018 - 01:36 pm - Link - Report abuse +1@BK
Jan 03rd, 2018 - 08:31 pm - Link - Report abuse +1You are right. IMF recipes invariably contribute to a shrinking of developing countries' economies.
The IMF has acted more to help foreign bondholders to get their money from developing countries than anything else.
It is revealing that before Macri, the IMF's poster child was none other than former Argentine president Carlos Menem, who upon inauguration reneged all his electoral promises and set up to apply to the letter the IMF recipes.
He did so by, as reported by Telesur in 2015, “introducing far-reaching austerity measures, liberalizing trade and capital flows, pegging the peso to the dollar, and unleashing a major privatization drive.” Pretty much what's Macri is doing, less privatizations for now.
The IMF, World Bank and U.S. Treasury all supported the neoliberal reforms pursued by Menem and his economy minister Domingo Cavallo, which matched perfectly with the ideology enshrined in what was then known as the Washington Consensus.
In 1998, the IMF invited President Menem as an honorary guest to its annual spring meeting in Washington, D.C.
And just three years later, “Argentina was bankrupt and Menem's 'concerted policy efforts' had led to the largest sovereign default in the history of the capitalist world system.”
Current Argentina bondholders should pay attention.
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/The-IMF-in-Argentina-A-Bondholders-Best-Friend-20150416-0032.html
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