The economist and former director for the Western Hemisphere of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Claudio Loser He considered that the agency would not endorse dollarization in Argentina due to the complexity of this monetary system for the size of the local economy.
“I don’t think the Fund is a fervent supporter of dollarization because it is too complicated for an economy like Argentina’s,” Loser said. And, along the same lines, he estimated that the implementation of “a bi-currency systemlike the one in Peru, but not something like what happened in Ecuador.”
At the same time he said: “The Fund is not going to want Argentina to have a fixed exchange rate, for smaller countries, yes“. In radio statements, the former IMF official maintained that “from the outside and from the inside, the situation in Argentina is totally dramatic.”
The government has to take action
“The Government is facing the truth, it cannot continue putting patches, If they don’t do something important, they won’t make it to October. and the Fund is not going to help them either,” Loser warned.
Regarding the controversy that broke out over the weekend over alleged suggestions by opposition economists for the IMF to cut financing to the country, Loser confirmed the contacts, but revitalized the content. “Of course there is a representative of the Fund who is not only in contact with the Government, but also with many other people,” he explained.
“The Fund follows the political development of Argentina very closely, it is followed very closely to have an understanding of what can happen and the limits of what can be done,” he added. And he claimed that the “Fund did have contact with Together for Change“, although he said he did not know if there was a dialogue with the leader of the libertarians, Javier Milei.
In this context, he indicated that he does not believe “that Together for Change they have done something like what they are accused of, which is having asked the Fund not to provide aid to Argentina so that they can later arrive as saviors.”
Loser admitted that he is “closer to Together for Change than to the Government of the day”, but clarified: “If it’s true that they did that, it’s an immoral outrage that it will work more against them than in their favor”.
The former director of the IMF indicated that “the Fund’s relationship with Sergio Massa continues to be very good”, although he warned that “this exchange system is already leading Argentina to ruin” and acknowledged that he considers that the organization “got along better with Martín Guzmán” because he spoke the same language as them.
Source: Ambito
