El Salvador defends the use of bitcoin in the face of criticism from the IMF: "They are not going to force us to do anything"

A vendor shows an advertisement with the implementation of bitcoin in her store, on January 26 in San Salvador. MARVIN RECINOS (AFP)

The government of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele maintains tense relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization that has criticized the use of bitcoin as legal tender in the Central American country. Faced with the Fund's demand to reverse the controversial decision —the flagship project of the popular Bukele—, the Minister of Finance, Alejandro Zelaya, has been forceful: “No multilateral organization is going to force you to do anything, absolutely nothing. States are sovereign and make sovereign decisions about their public policies,” Zelaya told the local press. Meanwhile, the opposition in the Legislative Assembly has presented an initiative to repeal the so-called Bitcoin Law, which has infuriated Bukele. “The opposition was not used to El Salvador standing out in absolutely nothing,”The president has written on Twitter. “That is why it is so difficult for them to mount a coherent opposition. They want to fight against the El Salvador of the future using the El Salvador of the past”, he stated.

The opposition was not used to El Salvador excelling at anything.

That is why it is so difficult for them to mount a coherent opposition.

They want to fight against the El Salvador of the future, using the El Salvador of the past.

– Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) January 29, 2022

The tension in relations with the Fund reached its peak last week, when the agency urged the Salvadoran government to eliminate bitcoin as legal currency. The IMF has expressed "its concern about the risks associated with the issuance of bonds backed by bitcoin", for which it has suggested to the Bukele Executive to "limit the scope of the Bitcoin Law by eliminating its status as legal tender". In a report released last Tuesday, the IMF has said that the implementation of cryptocurrency is a danger to "financial stability, financial integrity, and consumer protection, as well as potential fiscal contingencies."

The Fund had already warned at the beginning of January of the risks that assuming the cryptocurrency implies for El Salvador and had asked Bukele for a meeting to discuss its implementation.

“The adoption of bitcoin as a currency raises a number of macroeconomic, financial and legal issues that require very careful analysis,” Fund spokesman Gerry Rice said at the time.

Bukele, however, has been enthusiastic about the project and has promised his citizens that it will bring economic development to their country.

The Salvadoran traveled to Turkey in mid-January in his search to attract support.

Bukele met with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom he signed six bilateral cooperation agreements, but the topic that raised the most expectations during the visit was the use of cryptocurrencies.

Salvadorans are having many needs and they are not being taken care of by the State.

What we are doing is a wake-up call for the Executive to use its good offices to implement public policies that meet the needs of Salvadorans,” Godoy told the local press.

Neither opposition criticism nor IMF claims have made a dent in Bukele's popularity.

Nor have his excesses affected him.

The president continues to be the most popular in a region dominated by authoritarianism such as that of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.

A survey by the Cid Gallup firm presented on January 26 shows that 84% of Salvadorans give Bukele their approval of the president's management.

He obviously celebrated from Twitter, his favorite platform to announce his decisions.

With a

, he retweeted the Gallup results with the phrase in English “Say it again” [repeat it].

A very typical response from someone who presents himself on that social network as the CEO of El Salvador.

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