Het
IMF leent de totaal onverantwoordelijke regering van Argentinië het
voor dit land fenomenaal grote bedrag van 50 miljard dollar.
Alsof
het geld gratis is zo laat de Argentijnse regering weten blij te zijn
met deze meer dan waanzinnige deal.......
Eerder
gaf de Argentijnse regering een obligatielening uit waar deze voor
100 jaar een vaste winst garandeert.........
De
grote
onderlaag zal weer keihard worden gepakt met deze lening, zoals dit
eerder deze eeuw (zie het tweede hieronder opgenomen artikel uit 2004
met de titel 'IMF
admits mistakes in Argentina crisis')
en
in de 90 er jaren al eens het geval was. Argentinië zal zich met deze
deal moeten onderwerpen aan het IMF en haar keiharde neoliberale eisen tot hervormingen.......
Begin
deze eeuw versterkte een grote lening van het IMF de crisis in Argentinië en ook nu is de verwachting dat dit zal gebeuren.......
Argentinië verwordt met deze IMF lening tot het Zuid-Amerikaanse Griekenland,
waar de welgestelden, zoals die in Griekenland al lang hun kapitaal
hebben veiliggesteld in het buitenland (2 vliegen in 1 klap >> ten eerste het geld is veilig voor eventuele faillissementen van banken (of grote belastingverhogingen op vermogen), ten tweede: de ontduiking van belastingen op enorme schaal...... (waar familie Zorreguieta, je weet wel de familie van pampakoningin Maxima, ook
tot de welgestelden behoort......)
De
arme bevolking van Griekenland, intussen het grootste deel van de
bevolking weet wat dit betekent, zoals de ouderen die daar praktisch
geen pensioen meer ontvangen (waar ze zelf voor spaarden), of wat dacht je van kankerpatiënten die de benodigde medicamenten zoals pijnstillers niet meer kunnen
betalen........
De
Griekse schuld is zo hoog dat de (lage) rentebetalingen al niet zijn te voldoen, laat staan dat het land tot aflossen van de enorme schuld zal komen, hetzelfde lot wacht Argentinië.......
Lees
nogmaals hoe ijskoud, inhumaan neoliberaal beleid tot grote ellende
zal leiden onder de grote maatschappelijke onderlaag van Argentinië en de crisis daar alleen zal verdiepen...... Bovendien regeert president en regeringsleider Mauricio Macri van de Propuesta Republicana, kortweg PRO, over zijn eigen graf en dat van nakomende regeringen, immers Argentinië heeft met deze lening een groot deel van de zeggenschap in eigen land vrijwillig overgedragen aan het IMF........
Daarmee is het zeker dat Argentinië zich met hart en ziel heeft verbonden aan het ijskoude, inhumane neoliberalisme, waar zelfs een socialistische regering niets tegen kan ondernemen...... Zie de Griekse situatie waar Tsipras een zogenaamde socialist zijn land uit handen heeft gegeven aan de Europese Commissie, het IMF en de ECB, de Europese Centrale Bank....... Staatseigendommen zijn voor 99 jaar uit handen gegeven aan een EU orgaan, het Europees Stabiliteitsmechanisme (ESM) dat naar goeddunken staatseigendommen kan verkopen voor een appel en een ei.......
Argentina
Just Made IMF History With Biggest Bailout Loan Ever
June
7, 2018 at 9:51 pm
(ZHE) — Just
a few weeks after Argentina became ground zero for the coming
Emerging Market crisis, when its currency suddenly collapsed at the
end of April amid soaring inflation, exploding capital outflows and a
central bank that was far behind the curve (as in “13% of rate
hikes in a week” behind)…
…
the
IMF has officially bailed
out the country –
again – this time with a $50 billion, 36-month stand-by loan, and
coming in about
$10 billion more than
rumored earlier in the week, it was the largest ever bailout loan in
IMF history,
meant to help restore investor confidence in a nation that, between
its soaring external debt and current account deficit, prompted
JPMorgan to suggest that
along with Turkey, Argentina is in effect, doomed.
As
the JPM chart below shows, the country’s total budget deficit,
which includes interest payments on debt, was 6.5% of GDP last year,
much of reflecting a debt binge of about $100 billion over the last
two and a half years. The primary fiscal deficit in 2017 was 3.9%.
The
loan will have a minimum interest rate of 1.96% rising as high as
4.96%.
“We
are convinced that we’re on the right path, that we’ve avoided a
crisis,” Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne said at a press
conference in Buenos Aires. “This is aimed at building a normal
economy.”
Dujovne
said that about $15 billion from the credit line would be immediately
available to Argentina after the package is approved by the IMF’s
board, which is expected on June 20. The rest would be dispersed as
needed as Argentina meets its targets.
Shortly
after the news the loan was finalized, Dujovne made some additional,
more bizarre comments, saying that “the amount we received is 11
times Argentina’s quota, which reflects the international
community´s support of Argentina,” almost as if he was proud at
just how insolvent his country “suddenly” become. He was
certainly delighted that, in his view, Argentina is now “too big to
fail”, and received not only this loan as a result…
“It’s
very good news that the integration with the world allows us to
receive this support.”
… but
also hinted that the international community would also foot the bill
for all other upcoming Argentinian bailouts. And if the country’s
history is any indication, there will be plenty more, as well as the
occasional military coup for good measure.
According
to Bloomberg, Argentina will see 30% of the funds a day or two after
the Fund’s June 20 board meeting, and in typical IMF-bailout
fashion, a form of austerity will be imposed on what was once Latin
America’s richest nation: as part of the agreement, the country
will now target a fiscal deficit of 1.3% of GDP in 2019 and 2.7% this
year, with a fiscal balance targeted for 2020 (good luck). And since
the previous targets of 2.2% and 3.2%, were almost as laughable, this
latest IMFian austerity package not only has zero chance of ever
being achieved, but if Greece is any indication, it will make the
Argentina crisis far worse. The government has also set a new
inflation target of 17% in 2019 – It’s considered low –
declining to 13% in 2020 and 9% in 2021.
And
the biggest joke, as part of the program, Argentina will agree to
accelerate the pace at which it reduces the government deficit. The
nation spends more than it collects in revenue and imports more than
it exports, creating fiscal and current-account shortfalls that leave
Argentina vulnerable to fluctuations in its currency. But, thanks to
the even more idiotic policies of central banks, Argentina managed to
sell a 100 year bond last year, demonstrating just how stupid some
managers of “other people’s money” really are.
“This
is a plan owned and designed by the Argentine government, one aimed
at strengthening the economy for the benefit of all Argentines,”
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde says in the statement which
can be found
on the IMF’s website.
To
take effect, the deal reached between the IMF’s staff and Argentine
authorities still requires the approval of the IMF’s executive
board.
Oh,
and thank you American taxpayers: the IMF’s largest shareholder,
the U.S., said in a statement Thursday from Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin that it supported the program, according
to the WSJ.
“The
size of the package should provide relief, but implementing the
program entails significant challenges and will require skillful
political leadership,” said Martin Castellano, the head of Latin
America research at the Institute of International Finance (IFF).
Argentina
was bailed out by the IMF for the second time in 2 decades after
three rate hikes pushed borrowing costs above 40% but failed to halt
a plunge in the currency. The peso fell 25% against the dollar this
year to trade at 24.9850 on Thursday, while capital outflows soared.
Central
Bank President, Federico Sturzenegger, said the bank will continue to
intervene in currency markets in times of “disruptive movement”
although the central bank will not target inflation this year, he
said. Meanwhile, the government has agreed to send a bill that gives
the central bank more autonomy, and as a result it wil no longer
transfer funds to the Treasury.
“We’re
convinced that we’re on the right track, that we managed to avoid a
crisis, gather support for the program we already had and that has
been in place since Dec. 2015, which looks to build a normal economy,
reduce poverty and protect the vulnerable,” Dujovne said, echoing
what Greece said after its first bailout 8 years… and its second…
and its third.
Gerry
Rice, an IMF spokesman, speaking Thursday before the details of the
bailout were announced, told reporters that the IMF is “not seeing
negative spillovers to other countries at this point.”
Well,
he may want to take a look at Brazil.
* *
*
As
for what happened the last time the IMF bailed out Argentina in the
early 2000, the following
2004 article from the Telegraph tells
you all you need to know why when a nation is desperately in need of
deleveraging, giving it another $50 billion in debt is generally a
bad idea.
IMF
admits mistakes in Argentina crisis
By
Edmund Conway12:01AM BST 30 Jul 2004
The
International Monetary Fund yesterday admitted that its mistakes
helped plunge Argentina deeper into the red during the currency
crisis that crippled the country’s economy three years ago.
In
a report published yesterday by its independent evaluation office,
the IMF
said it ought to have prevented the Argentine government from
following poor economic policies.
“IMF
surveillance failed to highlight the growing vulnerabilities in the
authorities’ choice of policies and the IMF erred by supporting
inadequate policies too long,” it said.
The
financial meltdown that reached a climax in 2001, causing the country
to default on $132 billion of foreign debt, was worsened by the
government’s vain attempts to maintain the Argentine peso’s peg
against the dollar. The
IMF ploughed money into the country to help it sustain the peg,
pledging an extra $22 billion as late as the end of 2000.
“In
retrospect, the resources used in an attempt to preserve the peg
could have been better used to mitigate some of the inevitable costs
of exit,” the report said.
Although
it became clear to some IMF staff that the country’s currency plan
was flawed in the 1990s, they did not report their doubts to their
board for fear of triggering a speculative attack on the peso. The
executive board, for its part, ignored staff complaints that
Argentina was not reforming its economy satisfactorily.
Both
the IMF and the US touted the country as Latin America’s economic
success story but the fund maintained its support despite the fact
that Argentina missed its fiscal targets every year since 1994.
Analysts have also claimed that the IMF’s demands that Argentina
raise taxes in 2002 worsened the crisis. The conclusions will come as
a blow to the institution, whose role has come under increased
scrutiny in recent years.
Yesterday
the Argentine finance minister, Roberto Lavagna, argued that the
country should not be pressed too hard for repayments of its current
three-year $13 billion loan. He said the IMF was now insisting it
reformed its economy “in a way absent throughout the 90s” and
“under a schedule that is oblivious to the political realities of
the country”.
Good
luck, and some advice to Argentina: this
time try
to prevent Elliott Management from buying up your debt at distressed
prices.
