Up for a bit of IMF bashing?

[mumon]

Anyone who's read Greg Palast knows what I'm talking about...

http://reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=3173299

The International Monetary Fund confirmed its executive board had approved on Monday the third and final revision of an Argentine pact, but urged the country to "accelerate" its structural reforms.

I.e., to impoverish the people faster and steal their infrastructure.

IMF head Horst Koehler said "recent macroeconomic performance continued to be favorable," but the country had to move ahead on structural reforms.

Oh yeah?

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aGnU6XzzV58M&refer=latin_america

As of Friday...

Argentina's peso shed 1.2 percent to 2.8200 per dollar at 12:50 p.m. New York time from 2.7875 in Buenos Aires yesterday, paring its gain for the year to 19 percent. The peso is the worst performing currency against the dollar today, among the 59 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Elsewhere in the region, Brazil's real weakened while the Mexican peso gained.



Meanwhile official government flunkies say...

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=2403

Argentina’s economy is expected to expand between 5 and 5,5% this year according to the latest report from the country’s Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna who is one of the few top officials to accompany President Nestor Kirchner this Wednesday in his two days visit to the United States. The previous forecast was 4,5 to 5%.

...


Last Sunday Buenos Aires newspapers published that government expenditure must drop or revenue increase (taxes) if the 2004 budget surplus target of 2,5% of GDP was to be reached and that growth rate for the coming year would stabilize in 4,5%, down from 4,9% in 2003.


...Public utility companies belonging to European investors are demanding that the new Argentine government authorize rates that have been frozen since last year, to increase an average 65% to compensate for the December 2001 devaluation of the currency.

Don't believe that 5% number...

here's my favorite snipped from the IMF...

http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/030728/15/3cwxx.html

The International Monetary Fund could become more effective in preventing financial crises if its policy advisors were more candid and its advice more widely available to the public, the IMF's Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) concluded in a report released Monday.



A review of the IMF's handling of financial crises in South Korea, Indonesia, and Brazil found the three cases suffered differing problems and implemented their programs and recovered at different paces.


Ah, yeah, all they gotta do is spin their expropriation of national assetts and impoverishment...