Monday, April 22, 2002

Sympathy, but no cash As Argentina’s financial crisis continues to deepen, any hopes that new help might soon be forthcoming from the International Monetary Fund have quickly faded. Argentina will have to deliver concrete reforms first "The government of President Eduardo Duhalde inherited a catastrophic collapse of Argentina’s economy and its financial system. Latin America’s third-largest economy was forced to default on its huge public debt (the largest sovereign-debt default in history) and to break a decade-old currency peg with the American dollar. The Argentine peso is now worth less than one third of its value of just a few months ago. The economy is in its fourth year of recession and unemployment is at least 20%, possibly much higher. On April 19th, the day before Mr Remes’s rendezvous with the G7 ministers, the authorities closed all banks indefinitely in a desperate attempt to stop the continuing drain on bank reserves. The banks are unlikely to reopen until emergency legislation has been passed obliging depositors to accept government bonds instead of cash." 1:46:42 PM  Google It!  comment  []

Extreme Rightist Eclipses Socialist to Qualify for Runoff in France "In a major upset not predicted in weeks of opinion polling, the extreme rightist Jean-Marie Le Pen qualified today to face President Jacques Chirac, a conservative, in the runoff for the French presidency next month. The 73-year-old Mr. Le Pen, who once called the Nazi gas chambers "a detail in history," benefited from the huge field of candidates that split the vote, an apathetic electorate and a wave of anti-crime fervor to edge past Prime Minister Lionel Jospin." 11:32:58 AM  Google It!  comment  []

Bank Holiday and Creditors Add to Crisis in Argentina "The crisis that has crippled the Argentine economy for the past five months took a sudden turn for the worse over the weekend after the government suspended bank and foreign exchange operations indefinitely and the country's creditors, meeting in Washington, rejected a bailout on President Eduardo Duhalde's terms." 11:28:33 AM  Google It!  comment  []