September 30, 2012 8:37 pm
Cry foul Argentina

It has been said the current global economic

recovery is like a groom waiting at the altar. All is

prepared, the various stimuli applied. But where is

that elusive bride, economic growth? And will she

be pretty? Not judging by Argentina – although

President Cristina Fernández would disagree. But

then her government sometimes seems to be losing

touch with reality.

Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One impresario,

echoed a common view last week when he said he

looked forward to a Grand Prix in Argentina when

there were “serious people” there to deal with. Ms

Fernández then squabbled with Christine Lagarde,

the director of the International Monetary Fund,

over Argentina’s dodgy inflation statistics (officially

10 per cent a year, but calculated by everyone else

at more than 20 per cent). Ms Lagarde said

Argentina had been shown a “yellow card” and

risked a “red card” and expulsion if it failed to

publish accurate numbers. Ms Fernández shot back

that Argentina is “not a soccer team but a sovereign

power”.

High quality global journalism requires investment.

Please share this article with others using the link

below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs

and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email

ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fa301a08-0970-11e2-a5

e3-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz280xE11Kq

Quite so. But when has a debtor ever said anything

nice about a former creditor? More to the point, this

month saw thousands of Argentine protesters flash

their own “yellow cards” by banging pots outside

the Casa Rosada presidential palace. They were

furious about rising living costs, currency controls

and, as much as anything else, being lied to. These

are more than the frivolous concerns of an “elite”,

as the government derides them. Indec, which

passes as a state statistics agency, was ridiculed

recently when it suggested a day’s food could be

bought for six pesos, the same cost as a coffee.

Ms Fernández is unrepentant. She insists her way is

the only way – although on-the-hoof policy making

by a small coterie of advisers has brought the

economy to a grinding halt after 9 per cent growth

last year. Yet while Ms Fernández may be

increasingly isolated, she does not feel threatened.

The opposition is in disarray, and a bumper soya

crop at bumper prices is swelling budget revenues.

Both will help her in next year’s congressional

elections. But soya prices will not stay high forever.

Lossmaking utilities have threatened to pull the

plug unless electricity tariffs are unfrozen. Recently

nationalised oil company YPF is struggling to attract

investors to develop big gas resources.

It would not take much – ideological pirouettes

aside – for Ms Fernández to put the country back on

track. The rest of the world has already shown her a

“yellow card”. Increasingly, Argentines are too.