Lipton, enemy of the ruling party, again in charge of recommending (or not) helping the country

Lipton, enemy of the ruling party, again in charge of recommending (or not) helping the country

The person in charge of listening to Silvina Batakis’ request in this regard was Lipton, who received her in his office at the first meeting scheduled for yesterday in Washington. And from the mouth of the official, a note was taken and the commitment to study the situation was agreed upon. For now, not much else. However, Lipton’s position, as an old acquaintance of Argentina, can be somewhat anticipated.

This will be the second procedure of the year for Yellen’s advisor, after in the first quarter he received Martín Guzmán also in Washington, where he heard the arguments of the then Minister of Economy so that in March the IMF board received the positive vote of your country to approve the Extended Facilities. Lipton agreed, but made it clear that the recommendation was being made critically. This was later explained by the US representatives on the board, who, like Japan, determined that the agreement be approved but knowing that the country was not very deserving of the aid.

Thus, and as if it were a novel of entanglements, Lipton returned to cross paths with the economic destinies of the country. And it is not a comfortable situation for either party. The intention of the Government to advance in serious and direct accusations for the responsibility of the Argentine officials and the IMF authorities who signed the 2018 stand by, have Lipton as a fundamental protagonist. If the cause advanced, the then number two of the organism would have to give explanations about his intervention in the critical approval that he had at that time. Lipton, a militant Democrat, left his position as deputy managing director at the IMF in February of last year. Yellen called him to continue with tasks in Washington, in this case as direct adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury on issues related to the presence of the United States in international financial organizations, including the IMF, the World Bank, the Bank Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Paris Club.

The last time the economist touched on an issue where the country was involved, it was not a good experience. In August 2018, Macri faced a currency run, with more than weak reserves in the BCRA. The Government of that time made an official request so that the money coming from Washington would help the entity to face the onslaught. The request was met with the radical rejection of Lipton, because it violated Article VI of the IMF charter. Macri then called Trump, who, through his Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, made Lipton finally accept and sign the permit for the country to have some $6 billion available to contain possible runs.

Source: Ambito

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts