The New York Times: In an op-ed for The New York Times, Mark Weisbrot writes on Argentina and the fact that governments won’t be able to contain the pandemic if they are forced to use scarce foreign currency to make unsustainable debt payments.
Could a progressive U.S. administration marshal economic power at the service of people, not capital?
Over the past year, a rebranded International Monetary Fund (IMF) returned to Latin America with promises of loan agreements that would be different than the dreaded “structural adjustment programs” of the past.
The economic crisis in Argentina continues to intensify, with high inflation, rising poverty, and decreasing investor confidence. The implementation of a record $57 billion IMF bailout program, rather than alleviating Argentina’s economic woes, has seen poverty and unemployment rise, and a surge in debt levels.
Argentine political sentiment was tested in August when voters went to the primary polls and delivered a decisive defeat to President Mauricio Macri and his ruling coalition. With a nearly 16-point lead, Alberto Fernández and his running mate, former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, are in a strong position to win the general presidential election on October 27. Their broad-based, progressive coalition is also poised to capture the legislature and key governorships, significantly reshaping Argentina’s political terrain.
In light of these developments, and Argentina’s uncertain future, on Tuesday, September 24, three economists, who have been closely following political and economic developments in Argentina, presented their analysis to congressional staffers and civil society representatives at the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, DC.
The international community should finally agree to a fair sovereign debt workout mechanism that prevents the interests of creditors and a broken system from hindering human and national development.
The New York Times: Millions of Argentines remember the last depression and the role the IMF played. Many also remember the rapid improvement in people’s lives over the ensuing decade.
December 2018, Mark Weisbrot and Lara Merling
At a time when most of the region’s governments are beholden to Washington, the remarkable political transformation underway just south of the US border provides a beacon of hope for the peoples of Latin America and their quest for true independence.
In 1991, Argentina fixed its peso to the US dollar, but the increasing value of the dollar led to a deep recession beginning in mid-1998, and default on dollar-denominated debt in December 2001. The currency board devalued the peso by 29 percent in Januar
