05/10/2021 1:10 PM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 05/10/2021 1:18 PM
President Alberto Fernández assured on his first day of tour of Europe that the Government
went to "ratify"
the agreements with that continent for "Argentine development", and on Sunday after visiting his Portuguese counterpart, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in His first activity on the European tour, which includes visits to Spain, France, Italy and Vatican City, the local president returned to the idea they have of emulating the
"Portugal Model" in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
The president first met with Rebelo de Sousa, and this Monday a meeting took place between Fernández and
Prime Minister Antonio Luis Costa Da Costa, who successfully carried out the model that the President seeks to emulate.
The first point that the leaders discussed
was the support necessary for Argentina to renegotiate the debt with the IMF.
They also expressed the need to continue working on the bilateral relationship between countries.
On the other hand, the Minister of Economy Martín Guzmán met with his counterpart from the Economy of Portugal
and also sought to know the minors of the Portuguese experience
in relation to the payment of debt.
Alberto Fernández, who many times looks for a solution for the country in foreign formulas, many of them coming from the European continent,
insists on seeking to apply that model
for the renegotiation of the debt with the Fund, the agreement with which that country advanced in 2015 and It thus managed to reverse the powerful crisis that had deepened in 2011.
The model is based on
an expansionary policy program
with which Portugal
He stood before the body and with which he managed to get out of the
economic emergency
that threatened him then.
On this and other issues, the head of state spoke with his partner Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa during the 45-minute meeting
, then extended to the rest of the delegation, at the Palace of Belem, in the first meeting of the official agenda of the trip of five days in Europe.
The extent of the pandemic and the local electoral schedule kicked off a possible deal with the IMF beyond July.
In principle, the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, will try to continue negotiating with the IMF, while seeking to put a pause in
the maturities that the country has with the Paris Club, which will be in 20 days.
It is the last date foreseen in the contract signed by the Government of Cristina Kirchner in 2014 to cancel outstanding balances with that group of creditor countries.
The payment amounts to US $ 2.4 billion.
If Argentina does not pay, it will default to that body.
Portugal model
The promoter of the Portuguese model that Alberto Fernández wanted to imitate was the Socialist Prime Minister António Costa, who took office at the end of 2015 with a fragile left-wing coalition.
He took command of a country that had come from five years of strong adjustment and
that had received in 2011 78,000 million euros (US $ 91,000 million at the current exchange rate)
from the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank.
When the coast arrived, the fiscal deficit was at 4.4% (prior to the rescue, it had reached 11%) and managed to bring it to 1.9% in 12 months, in the first year of his administration.
In 2019, the year of his re-election, Costa had managed to reach the edge of fiscal balance (0.1%)
.
But the most important seasoning that the man put on the table to achieve his goal was for his country to abandon
the path of austerity,
a condition that the IMF demands when it comes to renegotiating debts.
Point that he
managed to compensate by overcomplying with the plan of fiscal goals agreed with his creditors.
Costa's policies went against the traditional recipe.
What, then, does the Portuguese model demand that Argentina should emulate:
order public accounts, increase exports, drive consumption and carry out expansionary policies.
YN
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