Caution: Argentina risking default: US senator
Argentine government struggles to beat back a mounting rush into dollars that has stoked 26% inflation.
WASHINGTON:
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner’s government has been accused by a leading US Republican senator of risking a credit default and of failing to stand by its democratic promises. Latin America’s third-largest economy appears powerless in the face of the haemorrhage of its currency, the peso. Argentina’s central bank has said it burned through $2.1 billion in reserves in January alone. “It looks like they’re headed for another default because all the actions they’re taking today seem to be designed to avoid a short-term default, but their structural problems are extraordinary,” said Senator Marco Rubio, who has been talked of as a possible US presidential candidate in 2016. The Argentine government is struggling to beat back a mounting rush into dollars that has stoked 26% inflation, despite price controls on many items and pressure on businesses to avoid price increases.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2014.
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner’s government has been accused by a leading US Republican senator of risking a credit default and of failing to stand by its democratic promises. Latin America’s third-largest economy appears powerless in the face of the haemorrhage of its currency, the peso. Argentina’s central bank has said it burned through $2.1 billion in reserves in January alone. “It looks like they’re headed for another default because all the actions they’re taking today seem to be designed to avoid a short-term default, but their structural problems are extraordinary,” said Senator Marco Rubio, who has been talked of as a possible US presidential candidate in 2016. The Argentine government is struggling to beat back a mounting rush into dollars that has stoked 26% inflation, despite price controls on many items and pressure on businesses to avoid price increases.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2014.