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IMF Meets With Argentina Opposition Candidate

Reuters

   BUENOS AIRES - A team from the International Monetary Fund met on
   Monday with opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez, the front-runner
   for October's presidential election, according to a spokesman for
   Fernandez.

   A three-man IMF team sat down with three representatives from
   Fernandez's center-left "Frente de Todos" coalition as well as the
   candidate himself, according to a statement from Fernandez's office.

   Fernandez, a critic of Argentina's $57 billion IMF standby agreement
   negotiated in 2018 by pro-reform President Mauricio Macri, has pledged
   to "rework" the program if elected, with his advisers telling Treasury
   Minister Hernan Lacunza last week he would seek an "alternative
   economic model" to the current administration's policies.

   The statement said Frente de Todos shared none of the policy priorities
   of the current government, nor agreed with the recommendations of the
   IMF.

   "The loan received by the country and the raft of conditions associated
   with it has not generated any of the hoped-for results: The economy has
   not stopped constricting, employment and the situation for enterprises
   and families has continued to get worse, inflation has not shown any
   sustained reduction, and public debt has only grown," said a statement
   from Fernandez's office.

   "During the meeting, (Fernandez) reiterated his concern that the credit
   extended by the IMF to the national government has been used, in large
   part, to finance capital outflows.

   "Those who have generated this crisis, the government and the IMF, have
   the responsibility of putting an end to and reversing it."

   A statement from the IMF on Monday night confirmed the meeting with
   Fernandez and his team and said it was "a productive exchange of
   opinions."

   On Saturday, IMF officials met with Lacunza, who was appointed last
   week, and central bank President Guido Sandleris.

   The IMF said in its statement that meetings with Argentine government
   had been "constructive."

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