Argentine President Alberto Fernández returned to the country this Wednesday (9) after official commitments in Russia, China and Barbados and is already seeking political support for Congress to ratify the agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the renegotiation of a debt of more than US$ 40 billion with the entity.
Fernández landed in Buenos Aires after visiting the Caribbean country, where he met with Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Before, he was in Moscow and Beijing and had meetings with the Russian president and Chinese dictator Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
Justified by the closer political and economic ties with the Asian giant and with the former Soviet republic, the trip generated criticism in Argentina for the attitude of the Argentine president in the meeting with Putin, amid the final stretch of negotiations with the IMF, an organization in which the United States has the most voting power.
The criticism is due to the timing of the trip, amid tensions between the US and Russia over the military crisis on the Russian border with Ukraine.
“I am convinced that Argentina has to leave this great dependence on the fund and the United States and have to open the way in other directions, and it seems to me that Russia has a very important place. [nisso],” Fernández said during the meeting with Putin.
The Argentine president began his international trip on February 1, four days after announcing an understanding with the IMF to refinance the debt of more than US$ 44 billion (R$ 232 billion) contracted in 2018, during the term of his predecessor, Mauricio Macri.
To come into effect, the discharge program – which the government insists will not result in adjustments to the national economy – must be formally ratified by the IMF management and the country’s Congress, where no party has an absolute majority, but Peronism is the force with more chairs.
In recent days, members of Kirchnerism, which is the Peronist current most critical of the IMF, have expressed doubts about supporting a plan they believe is harmful to the country.
“There are sectors that have always been very critical of the agreements with the IMF. So, finishing the memorandum with the fund, taking it to Congress and getting support from the coalition itself are the big challenges,” political analyst Anabella Busso told Efe.
On Monday, Fernández, who had said on the eve of the trip that trade agreements with Russia and China were “conditioned” to the new IMF program, said he was sure that the Frente de Todos alliance, which brought him to power, would support the pact for refinancing.
“The best possible agreement was reached”, said this Wednesday the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus, who said he was convinced of the approval in Congress, due to Argentina’s need to “find strategies to continue growing”.
Opposition Criticism
Together for Change, the main opposition coalition and of which Macri is a part, has not yet defined a common position, but seems to have a majority stance to prevent the agreement not being approved before March, which would force Argentina to face a demand that will not be able to pay.
“It could be a position, let’s say, difficult to predict, because some declared that it is necessary to support the negotiation with the IMF, and others said no”, evaluated Anabella Busso.
On Tuesday, Patricia Bullrich, one of the main opposition leaders, criticized the possibility that the agreement would result in a “tax adjustment for the middle class”, in addition to criticizing Fernández’s trip.
“It made me ashamed that our president, in front of Putin, criticized the United States and the IMF, with Russia also being part of the IMF. It’s something you don’t do, because it’s the same as going to the United States and criticizing Russia,” said the representative of Juntos pela Change.
Busso considers that, although the role of the US is decisive due to the weight it has in the decisions of the IMF, the position of other countries that are part of the organization or that can make investments in Argentina is also important. Therefore, she believes it is beneficial to “diversify” the bonds.
“Because, in case the agreement with the fund is not confirmed, one of the important things to avoid the adjustment dimensions is that the country grows and can fulfill its commitments with growth, even with adjustments”, he concluded.
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