MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
IMF holding productive talks with Argentina; expects an accord with private creditors can be reached
The International Monetary Fund’s discussions with Argentina have been very productive and the fund is willing to do whatever it can to help get the Argentine economy back on a solid footing, an IMF official told reporters. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesAlthough unnamed, goodwill statements made by an IMF official are encouraging and should send a positive message to Argentina's private lenders with whom the country is currently negotiating repayment terms.
Apr 25th, 2020 - 04:06 pm - Link - Report abuse -2Argentina reached technical default before the Macri administration ended its term last December because most of the heavy borrowing contracted during the last four years had established short-term, large repayment amounts that the country could not have been realistically honoured.
The ensuing COVID-19 pandemic only made things worse, as it has for most countries.
Economy minister Martin Guzman has acknowledged the debt contracted by the Macri administration as well as previous administrations. He has formally proposed to extend repayment deadlines and a reduction in interest that would allow Argentina's economy to get back and honour its dues.
Once the government of Alberto Fernandez clears this hurdle, an agreement with the IMF appears to be headed in the right direction, for the benefit of all.
I would comment, but...
Apr 25th, 2020 - 07:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0imoyaro best exposes the Marxist-socialist cockroach Enrique Massot that is well worth repeating again...
https://en.mercopress.com/2020/04/23/argentina-misses-us-500-million-payment-on-wednesday-default-by-end-of-may/comments#comment508346
Chicureo
Apr 25th, 2020 - 09:38 pm - Link - Report abuse -3I know. You are incapable of articulating an opinion piece and prefer to rely on another manure producer. Indeed, not a simple two-liner you can write -- just look at your artful piece above...sad for a grown person to pen such a thing.
EM
Apr 25th, 2020 - 10:31 pm - Link - Report abuse +4Always praising CFK (and VP Alberto)...no matter what they do.....and remember, they are still on the honeymoon with the 'people'...
“Argentina reached technical default before the Macri administration ended its term last December”...
Would it not be better said that “Argentina reached technical default before the Macri administration started its term in January 2016” ?
C'mon Reekie, be impartial....even “Economy minister Martin Guzman has acknowledged the debt contracted by the Macri administration as well as previous administrations”.....
“as well as previous administrations”....meaning CFK's ???
By the way, Kamerad/Komrade, about this little snippet...
Apr 25th, 2020 - 11:50 pm - Link - Report abuse +2“I also reserve my right to seek damages for threats expressed in the sentence reading: “It's really too bad you can't end up in El Helicoide.” This statement is alarming and promotes the wish that I be a victim of kidnapping and murder by being thrown from a helicopter as routinely done in Argentina during the civic-military dictatorship that usurped the power between 1976 and 1983.”
You are admitting that “El Helicoide” is an infamous prison known for the torture and disappearance of opponents of the Maduro regime...torture and disappearances YOU SUPPORT. Good luck with that court case, Kriminal.
JB
Apr 26th, 2020 - 04:14 am - Link - Report abuse -3”C'mon Reekie, be impartial (the debt contracted by)...CFK's ???”
Not sure what you're trying to accomplish here, Jack -- I believe I have posted these numbers in the past, but here you have it. Ratios debt to GDP as published by CEIC:
2008 (First year of CFK in office): 42 per cent
2011 (Last year CFK's first term): 30 per cent
2015 (Last year CFK's second term): 26 per cent
2019 (Last year of Macri's term): 62 per cent
By the way. I have noticed a lot of nervousness in certain MP posters in the last few days.
Perhaps isolation is getting to them, or it may be that the utter failure of some right-wing governments across the world (US, Ecuador, Brazil, UK) in effectively fight the C-19 pandemic is making them nervous.
Leaders such as DT and Bolsonaro are exhibiting an inexhaustible amount of ignorance and pettiness in their quest to protect economic interests ahead of their citizens' well being.
On the other hand, this crisis has brought back the relevance of the role of states when facing emergencies such as the present one, which could seriously put in question the 'less government' neoliberal preaching of the last 40 years.
I feel their pain.
Speaking of isolation getting to them...
Apr 26th, 2020 - 05:08 am - Link - Report abuse +2https://www.thebubble.com/cuarentena-argentina
EM
Apr 26th, 2020 - 05:01 pm - Link - Report abuse +2Tks for the debt/ GDP ratios, but it's not about comparisons....“Ah, CFK screwed the country LESS than Macri did, therefore she was/is a great president”.
CFK had 8 years prior to Macri, ‘n left Argentina in shambles, so much so that she was not re-elected...why ? and now, you insinuate that she has no fault in Argentina's current sorry state.
It's those bad choices that perpetuate poor governance - politicians, as well as the people, refuse to heed lessons learned from past mistakes.
Gollum the CaveBumpkin
I wrote : “ipsis litteris”, it implies you agree with it....every word ?” “Like an amateur tourist guide” etc..
Your silly reply : “Hardly, if that was true you would have provided a source”.
The ‘source’ WAS provided….it’s the article itself….numb nuts !
The fact that Ana Farah might make a few extra bucks by sharing her impressions on Brazilian toilets, does not make her a ‘competent’ professional…any more than your (copied) quotes make you smart, or intelligent.
But one of my points is, that you are incapable of identifying the mistakes in her article – which should be in irreprehensible English if she were a competent professional – and pass it on as correct…numb nuts !
Chicureo
On this side of the continent, apart from hundreds of unnecessary deaths (perhaps, due mainly to people’s irresponsibility in downplaying the seriousness of the virus, and breaking isolation) I see tough times ahead for the economy…on the other hand, after lockdown, it may bounce back quicker than we think, as people are rearing to get going again…workers, and entrepreneurs.
Yr link on Brazilian bathrooms seems to contradict Gollum’s obsession with his hole in the ground and his plastic bin…but THAT’s the type of bog I’m used to…obviously not Gollum.
The ‘lokal legend’ is not really a legend…just a myth, such as in “a widely held but false belief or idea”…like the unicorn, or Gollum’s false claims regarding his military prowess.
Jack
Apr 26th, 2020 - 09:38 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Thanks for your observations. I have reconsidered my return to the farm physically as I can manage affairs remotely, and therefore prudently have decided to wait. The most important thing is good health and I've been blessed that none of my extended family have fallen ill.
Curiously, none of the staff at the farm either, but there is many that have been diagnosed with COVID19 in the Aconcagua Valley.
Marxist-socialists cockroaches like Enrique and Gollum, metaphorically describe themselves progressives — yet deep down they blindly follow the collectivism of Karl Marx.
Lenin described them as “useful idiots.”
Socialist collectivism is an evil of thoughtless enterprise. No one cockroach controls this evil, as its methods of destruction are generated from a collective belief that all participants are moved by a “will” that transcends thought, so mob will rules through a so called “democratic” participation.
I personally lived through a dark period when Fidel Castro stayed an entire month in my country as an honored guest of our Marxist-socialist President Allende. We watched our land stolen — justified by the Unidad Popular dictum, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
The Marxist-socialist Allende government's objective was the gradual eradication of private property so that every member of society could supposedly work according to their capacities and consume according to their needs. To his way of thinking, this was the only way to prevent the rich from living at the expense of the poor.
Allende's governmental philosophy allowed for the legal theft of other people’s property with the same miserable results as we today see in Venezuela...
Anyway, the sun here is setting after a beautiful Sunday and I salute you with a goblet of '17 Arboleda Carménère...
¡Salud!
JB
Apr 26th, 2020 - 11:58 pm - Link - Report abuse -3You are not interested by the Debt/GDP ratio, and I acknowledge that a single parameter does not provide a full picture of the state of an economy. Yo don't provide other measurable information but advance a general, unverified statement: “CFK left the country in shambles.”
Next, you suggest CFK wasn't re-elected because of that. You probably know that numerous elements, both objective and subjective, play into an election results. However, let's assume for a moment that CFK wasn't re-elected in 2015 because, following your logic, she performed real bad during her two terms (2007-2015) in office.
Then, following your reasoning, we must conclude that Mauricio Macri's defeat in the 2019 election after only one term in office and the triumph of Alberto Fernandez as president and CFK as vice-president means Macri performed even worse since he was denied a customary second term by a majority of the electors. Would that be right?
It's a beautiful slightly overcast Falł day here in Chicureo and I just returned with my wonderful partner after a pleasant 6km brisk walk...
Apr 27th, 2020 - 02:52 pm - Link - Report abuse +2As two Karl Marx inspired useful idiots are posting trash on numerous threads, this generic message is my response to their repeated ridiculous nonsense...
Marxist-socialist vermin prefer to deny the wonderful economic success of Chile, clearly placing it as the most progressive nation in South America with the HIGHEST GDP and the strongest free market economy. (Yes, we have some inequality and certainly need to improve, but we remain clearly the best on our continent.)
For those cockroaches that blindly praise the great social progress of their glorious hero Maduro, I again remind them that their bête noire will soon again in November be overwhelming reelected: https://youtu.be/tHsZxJlxHYw
Their misery is my schadenfreude...
By the way, I'm curious if Gollum can explain why in an Internet query of “LOKAL LEGEND”, it results as a depraved criminal bestial porn cult...
Wow. The individual going by the nickname of Chicureo has ramped up his ramblings and diatribes in an effort to divert from meaningful discussion about what's going on in his country.
Apr 27th, 2020 - 07:42 pm - Link - Report abuse -3Chicureo spills his vitriol in comments about Argentina and other countries -- but he carefully refrains from commenting on MP stories about Chile's civil unrest while glorifying the so-called “milagro chileno.”
While singing praise to the marvels of capitalist paradise and the “wonderful economic success of Chile.” Oh, he by the way concedes “yes, we have some inequality and certainly need to improve.”
However, Chicureo's quick temper makes him to react with insults galore and accusations against “Communist-inspired Marxists” who, according to him, “prefer to deny the wonderful economic success of Chile.”
However, information explaining why, in spite of being a capitalist paradise Chileans have been demonstrating in spite of a cruel police repression is at our fingertips.
Chile is richer than most countries in Latin America -- there is no discussion about it. With a per-capita income of $25,000, the country is ahead of Uruguay with $23,000 and Argentina with $20,000.
Chile ranks high in terms of per capita income, but shares the following trait with Peru, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries: Extreme income inequality.
“While the country’s per capita income would give Chileans over $2,000 a month, most make $550 a month or less,” notes a Geopolitics story whose link I included below. “A 2018 government study showed that the richest Chileans had an income nearly 14 times greater than the poorest.”
But don't bother Chicureo while he is absorbed in research about depraved - criminal - bestial - porn cults.
https://qz.com/1754400/protests-in-chile-are-about-wealth-as-much-as-inequality/
EM
Apr 27th, 2020 - 09:16 pm - Link - Report abuse +2“You don't provide other measurable information but advance a general, unverified statement”….
Please note that the “statement” as you called it, was based on observation and is my opinion….does not need verifying.
I definitely do believe CFK left Argentina in dire straits…I don’t need to remind you of the long discussions right here on MP regarding the legal battles over debt when CFK was president..
...and as to why she wasn’t re-elected, can you think of a better reason than people were fed up with her ? ....sure there are lots of “elements” – that “play into election results”, but unless you are suggesting fraud (which I don't believe you are), it comes down to popular preference, at the “time of the election”.
While it might not be fair to label CFK’s two terms as a complete disaster, but (in the end) far from good, she left a country divided, a growing poverty rate – which did not include government employees – and an unfavourable legacy to her successor.
At times one wonders if it might not be best to re-elect a candidate who screwed up....just to see if they will fix things, or make them far worse.....risky, either way.
That he, Macri, did not manage to fix things in 4 years, and even made some things worse, is clear….but getting back to debt/GDP ratios, they too depend on a lot of “elements”, some relatively controllable (internal), others not so much (international events)…but I think what pushed the ratio to 62%, under Macri, was the IMF loan of USD 50 or 57 billion.....enough to screw any ratio....(if GDP is not high)
The fact that CFK, despite running as VP, was who attracted the votes (last year), just confirms that people have short memories and don’t remember, or don't care, why they didn’t vote for her candidate in 2015.....also because there was a lack of better options….which is usually what elections boil down to.
As I've pulled a cork of an especially fine Carménère, I'll calmly respond politely with my personal observations of Señor Massot's slander of my dear country.
Apr 27th, 2020 - 09:22 pm - Link - Report abuse +1As our family farm relies upon seasonal manual labor, I'm very much aware of the current income inequality in my country and the real effects of governmental policy regarding the “going pay-scale” for the underprivileged unskilled workers situation.
Prior to the second administration of the Partido Socialista de Chile President Michelle Bachelet* 2014 to 2018 — the cost and availability of farm labor was a serious concern, because of demographics indicating serious shortages for the future.
Yet, we didn't realize how our socialist president would actually provide subsidies for and encourage a mass migration of unskilled and highly difficult-to-integrate groups** into our country; resulting in an unacceptable unemployment rate with laborers willing to work for bare minimum wages...
In addition of the normal influx of Colombians, Ecuadorians, Bolivians and Peruvians — Chile experienced massive numbers from Venezuela, which our country absorbed.
Yet the Bachelet encouraged and subsidized additional immigrants, which eventually resulted in large groups of unemployed day workers with cardboard signs looking for work, which caused deep resentment and anger.
For the Aconcagua Valley, unemployment was approximately 6% in 2014, 11% in 2015 and a stunning 18% BEFORE the current pandemic.
Clearly the liberal socialist immigration policies betrayed the abilities of the poor and underprivileged to earn more than the minimum salary because of the expanded labor pool.
Sort of contrary to the Marxist-socialist “Unidad Popular” dictum: “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
_____________
*Bachelet received her university education in Communist East Germany.
**This included, until our President Piñera stopped it — Chile received a fully load 767 from Haiti each day!
Chicureo
Apr 28th, 2020 - 01:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Of all the things the protesters have complained about - metro fares, cost of living, inequality, police brutality and the constitution - I don't remember immigration making the list.
* Bachelet started her studies in Chile, but as you know, events can ruin your plans for higher education in an instant.
** Have you told Madame Defarge you think French speakers are difficult to integrate? ;)
Also, I didn't know the Unidad Popular were vulcans...
Chicureo
Apr 28th, 2020 - 03:11 pm - Link - Report abuse -1“Slandering” a country would be ridiculous because a country is made up of many components and slander is never good. Criticizing a country's social or economic conditions or a country's government acts is okay and that is what I do on occasion.
That being said, it is surprising to read Chicureo's justification of Chile's unequal income distribution, which he argues was caused by immigrants. Immigrants are most often allowed into a country to keep the labour force supply high and its costs down. Those who have been at the lower pay scale know the drill: “If you don't want to work for what I offer, I have many others willing to do it.”
It is also widely known that Chile is one of the few countries in the world that has entirely privatized water and concentrated its ownership in the hands of a few companies or individuals.
Chile has also introduce privatization into many other domains including pension fund system, health insurance market and the education system.
Many of those moves have impacted the quality of life of the majorities, leading to many protests through the years until isolated demonstrations became the large scale movement that we all saw during part of 2019 and early 2020 -- demonstrations subsided only because the coronavirus pandemic.
DemonTree
Apr 28th, 2020 - 04:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I hope all is well with your child rearing adventure!
Madame and I are in the entertaining process of redesigning our new apartment in Valle Nevado using AutoCAD software that is fun and easy to learn — extremely good software. The unit is over 20 years old and a bit dated. (We used to regularly ski at Las Leñas in Argentina, but times change...)
As Enrique points out, INCOME INEQUALITY is the primary reason and he correctly cites the accurate Chile Gini index situation.
“...Chile ranks high in terms of per capita income, but shares the following trait...Extreme income inequality...”
This greatly benefits employers of unskilled labor like myself, as the massive number of immigrants absorbed into my country created a very negative effect on low income earnings.
High unemployment = Large number of workers willing to work for minimum wages.
It was in fact the liberal immigration policies of the Bachelet administration that resulted in an oversupply of unskilled workers willing to work at minimum wages, not Piñera.
I have a very good rapport with the campesinos and they are resentful that there are so many workers competing for their traditional work — especially the Hatians.
Regarding Haitians, as myself being a horrible miseducated francophone — I have no problem communicating in the Creole that they speak, but it's shocking that the majority are functionally illiterate in their native language.
I agree why Bachelet was educated in East Germany, but the fact remains, just like Angela Merkel's was influenced also by Communists. Both highly respected women that have embraced humanist open immigration policies.
Regarding Spock's Vulcan quote: The Pacto de la Unidad propaganda about 1969 started using the phrase and there is a lengthy debate here in Chile of REALITY imitating ART ...or ART imitating REALITY... In whatever case, variations of the phrase was commonly used during the Unidad Popular.
Lunch today is BLT sandwiches.
¡Saudos!
Chicureo
Apr 28th, 2020 - 10:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0BabyTree has grown a lot, but unfortunately is suffering from painful wind and reflux, and we are suffering too as it stops her settling and sleeping well. She's very sweet when she's not screaming, though.
Re inequality, did the Gini index increase or decrease during Bachelet's two presidencies?
It is shocking that education is so poor in Haiti. Shows there are still worse fates than a communist government, as Cuba has a nearly 100% literacy rate...
“Both highly respected women that have embraced humanist open immigration policies.”
I think you're far too generous to East Germany. The communist government wasn't exactly a fan of open borders; they were building walls before it was fashionable. And the Stasi was far from humanist - they had the same aims as Pinochet's repression but far more subtle methods.
This idea that the needs of the many should take precedence is a populist one, and dangerous. It's still prevalent in Eastern Europe although the governments have switched their ideology from one extreme to another.
DemonTree
Apr 29th, 2020 - 04:43 am - Link - Report abuse 0Hang in there with your daughter. Also with her mother, because women change after the first child, and it requires patience.
Regarding the GINI index, it's a double edge sword — because the Chile minimum wage remains higher than the several countries I mentioned. The wealthy just get wealthier and the lower middle class and laborers have good reason to be upset. Whichever government responsible, the high influx of low skilled immigrants has had a negative effect on wages.
It's good to see THINK is still with us!
¡Salud!
She's so cute, sleeping peacefully on my lap after being fed. :) How do women change after the first child?
Apr 29th, 2020 - 12:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Why is inequality so high in Chile if the minimum wage isn't low? Is public education poor or do the main economic sectors not require many skilled employees?
I was beginning to think Think must have caught the virus. Either that or been self isolating with no internet. Not much different from his normal life otherwise. I don't think he's on your side against Gollum, though.
DemonTree
Apr 29th, 2020 - 06:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have been busy with Madame intensely designing a kitchen for the past two days... Great entertainment and fun!
I'm certainly unqualified and insane to explain anything about women, but still I have personally observed they need exceptional-patience, extraordinarily-kindness and tolerance-forgiveness to live with young mothers.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/what-happens-to-a-womans-brain-when-she-becomes-a-mother/384179/
The bewitching, beguiling, enigmatic and wholly unexplainable woman, is like living with a sorceress — that changes into multiple personalities. As I mentioned, during this strange pandemic, it has been like a honeymoon.
But then again, I fear she is perfectly capable of cutting my throat with one of her wickedly sharp kitchen knives...
As you know, Chile is a successful developing country with a large middle class, but the cost of living continues climbing faster than earnings growth. Public education is generally inferior and the cost of private schooling can be outrageously expensive — however essential for success in my country.
Average income for the lower-middle and middle class certainly needs to increase, but the minimum should not — without expecting many menial jobs lost to economization.
Imagine the UK with a less developed economy, heavily based in large part with a lower-skilled employment base, and you would obviously see a large income inequality as well.
¡Salud!
DT (Fm 'B holds patriots meet')
Apr 30th, 2020 - 04:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Let’s put it this way...B WAS very useful, ‘n NOW, he’s acting stupidly...but the alternative would be far worse, economically ‘n health wise. Politically, can’t say, but I’m sure the pay-off scheme would be back, full speed, ‘n inflation increasing again…Just fyi, two declarations from the ex-con abt 2 weeks ago: “why doesn’t the government print money?”, and “WE need to get together to put the country back on track” (WE, and/or, the PT’s track ?)...shudder to think of it.
Only 7% supported Alckmin, ‘n 4% Amoedo…they weren’t going anywhere, except down. Temer was educated, a diplomat, and corrupt ; although he benefited from other corruption schemes, they were nothing compared to PB’s & BNDES’s. Corruption, by the PT, HAD to be on a large scale, otherwise would never be able to finance the aspirations of the South American left-wing.
The 2nd round boils down to 2 alternatives : neither might enthuse you, so you either choose the candidate who identifies more with you, and discard the other, or choose the least bad of the two. B, during his campaign, gained support by speaking his mind, which was a different approach ‘n appealed to many….people were fed up with dirty politics and stealing ; the attempt on B’s life, helped him.
Pre-Lavajato” times looked ‘normal’ only from the outside…the PB scandal, after the ‘mensalão’, was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Agree, social networks multiplied fake news, but it had never been used as a govt policy before the PT…of course politicians lied -here ‘n there - but never on a scale, 'n as organized as the PT did.
The poor were “satisfied’ with their crumbs (BFamilia), the media was happy (recvng billions) - so what could go wrong, why try to upset the apple cart ?
If you’re in doubt, allow me to confirm : FN became rampant UNDER the PT.
It's fun to provoke Gollum, see him throw a tantrum; his “Gotcha” confirms all I said abt him. Indeed, a perfect example of the D-K effect.
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