Professor Kicillof goes to Washington

With Argentina gripped by a deep recession and soaring inflation, ex-Kirchnerite minister and opposition lawmaker Axel Kicillof visited Washington DC y ester da y to participa te in a se mina rh os ted by the Wilson Center’s Argentina Project think-tank– andas anticipated, he delivered a stinging rebuke of the Mauricio Macri administration’s economic policies.

Kicillof, who was a professor of economics before entering politics, arrived with his own PowerPoint presentation and set about lecturing those gathered, detailing how he believes President Macri’s orthodox “neoliberal policies” have been detrimental to Argentina’s wellbeing.

“The revolution of happiness that Macri promised at the start of his government has ended up being a revolution of sadness,” he declared defiantly.

Before the public talk, Kicillof – who ser ve das Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s economy minister for the final two years of her last term – gave an interview to the Times and other reporters, in which he spoke in-depth about Argentina’s economic problems.

However, he avoided providing definitive answers about what the opposition and his Victory Front (FpV) would do to turn things around if they were to win the upcoming presidential elections.

Organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fear that an opposition victory in October’s presidential

election would see them renege on the terms and conditions of the government’s US$56-billion credit package.

“Nobody wants to default, but the problem is what condition the economy will be in and what the government will do from now up to December,” Kicillof said.

Questioned about the possibility of restructuring the debt or renegotiating its terms, the law maker believed that it was too soon to decide if that is necessary.

IMF CONTROL

Kicillof accused the IMF of being in charge of Argentina’s economic policy, saying it was a result of the Cambiemos administration’s failings.

But he pointed out that one of the problems is how the IMF is in charge of the Argentine economy now because of the terrible administration of the Let’s Change government.

“Today, the IMF manages Argentina’s interest rate, authorises whether the Central Bank can intervene in the markets... it directs budgetary policy,” he argued.

Despite this, Kicillof said he considered that the damage had already been done and said he hoped Argentina’s wouldn’t suffer another financial meltdown in the coming months.

“We understand that foreign financing is important ,” he said. “[But]t he opposition’s rhetoric isn’t making investors scared; it’s the government’s terrible policy and results. They’ve made four important changes to their monetary policy within a small period, this is in part to blame for the unstable environment.”

Kicillof argued that no-one – the market, politicians, analysts and journalists – knew how the economy would look come December, describing the government’s policy as “erroneous.”

The former economy minister also accused the government of short-termism, saying it was focused only on the elections and not what came after, claiming that successive Kirchnerite administrations had left behind stable economies.

“When the current government had arrived, there wasn’t a crisis, the economy was growing, inflation was declining, and the leve lofdebtwasat ah is toric al low.Th ere wasn’ ta problemabout me et ingdebtob ligations. They hada leve loff re e dom to make their decisions,” he explained.

Addressing the 10-point accord that President Mauricio Macri’s government promulgated this week, in an attempt to form a consensus and calm international and local markets, Kicill of said he believed such a move was positive, though he countered that it was very late in the day to do so.

“The problem with this administration is that they have never been critical of their economic policy, nor open to new ideas,” he declared.