On Saturday, as demonstrators marched through the capital city to the doors of the presidential palace and denounced his government for skyrocketing inflation and crippling national debt, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez made a call for unity.
A socialist left of the ruling coalition is mounting an increasing challenge to the center-left president and wants more government spending to reduce high poverty and inflation. In the past month, two significant moderate supporters have quit his Cabinet.
The South American nation, which is a significant soy and grain producer, is struggling with inflation that is over 60%, severe pressure on the peso, and rising gas import prices that are depleting already meager foreign exchange reserves.
Fernandez appealed for “unity” in an address to commemorate the centenary of Argentina’s independence declaration and urged different factions to strive toward it.
The president said that the nation needed to exercise economic prudence
He said that the nation needed to exercise economic prudence because of limited foreign currency reserves and surging global inflation, which were “extremely detrimental” to the local economy. “History has taught us that it was a value we must protect at the darkest periods,” he said.
“We must take the steps necessary to achieve budgetary balance and monetary stability.”
Argentina, which has seen repeated economic crises over the years, and the International Monetary Fund reached a $44 billion debt agreement early in the year to rebuild a failed 2018 program. Many people attribute tougher economic conditions to the IMF.
On Saturday afternoon, tens of thousands of demonstrators paraded through the streets of Buenos Aires while carrying signs that read “Out, Fund, out” and “breakaway from the IMF.” Participants in the march demanded that debt payments not be paid and condemned the government.
Argentina’s President has been requested by several government officials
More funding has been requested by several government officials, particularly strong Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, to lessen the effects of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, which have sparked demonstrations in nations around the world, including Sri Lanka.
A socialist senator who participated in the march, Juan Carlos Giordano, declared that “our nation is in a historic crisis.”
“Argentina is an IMF-restricted capitalist semi-colony. We are here today to declare that we require second independence. Argentina needs to sever connections with the IMF, the Spanish Empire of the twenty-first century.”
A week ago, conservative Economy Minister Martin Guzman, a personal supporter of the president who had led negotiations with the IMF, abruptly resigned, causing chaos in Fernandez’s government. Silvina Batakis, an economist, took his post.
In a Friday meeting with the IMF, Batakis, who is viewed as being nearer to the left-wing of the governing coalition than Guzman, promised economic stability despite worries more than a populism policy shift that has depressed bonds and roiled the peso.
