Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Wednesday said that Argentina’s currency crisis is over, speaking as the country’s currency rebounded somewhat and prices of its stocks and bonds rose.
Macri last week announced that the country was seeking a financing deal with the IMF following a sharp drop in the Argentine peso. The decision brought back haunting memories for Argentines, many of whom blame the fund for introducing policies that led to the country’s 2001 economic implosion.
Argentina was forced to impose interest rate hikes and to tighten the fiscal deficit target to try to halt the devaluation of its currency, which has lost about 25 percent of its value over the past few weeks and hit a new all-time low of 25.30 pesos to the US dollar on Monday. However, it rose at 24.8 per US dollar on Wednesday, and Argentine stocks and bonds rose.
Photo: AP
Macri said his government thinks it has “overcome” the turbulence over the currency, adding that he would demand an “intelligent” deal with the IMF.
“It’s important to recognize the moment of nervousness and anguish lived by a sector of the population,” Macri told reporters at the presidential palace. “There was fear and anguish. Today, we have a different climate, but we must take a balance of what happened.”
The economic turbulence highlighted the frailty of Argentina’s economy, despite austerity measures imposed by Macri, a conservative who has vowed to boost growth and curb Argentina’s high inflation.
Macri’s government has requested a high-access standby arrangement from the IMF to meet its debt obligations without risking a disruption of economic growth.
“With this deal, we will potentialize the future of Argentines,” Macri said.
The crisis 17 years ago resulted in one-fifth of Argentines being unemployed and millions sliding into poverty. The peso, which had been tied to the US dollar, lost nearly 70 percent of its value. Many Argentines have since then blamed the IMF for its role in Argentina’s record debt default of more than US$100 billion.
A survey by Argentine pollsters D’Alessio Irol/Berensztein said that 75 percent of Argentines felt that seeking assistance from the IMF is a bad move. The survey of 1,077 people early this month had a margin of error of three percentage points.
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