Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzman resigned on Saturday following escalating infighting within the government. His departure raises questions whether Argentina can comply with a $44bn IMF program, whose goals for the latter half of 2022 are seen as too lofty to reach by various economists in the private sector. According to Bloomberg, in the last couple of months, Guzman had fallen out with the far-left wing of the ruling coalition led by Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Even though the IMF plan he negotiated was passed by Congress garnering sufficient support, Bloomberg notes that Congress members loyal to Kirchner voted against it. In addition, she has publicly and frequently criticized Guzman’s economic policies, compounding the significant pressure that Guzman is already under from Argentina’s uphill fight with inflation. In Guzman’s exit note on Twitter, he called for “political agreement within the governing coalition, that will allow whoever replaces me to have the ability to manage centrally the tools of macroeconomic policy that will be necessary to continue the advances we’ve made and the challenges ahead”.
Despite the negative news, Argentina’s 2% 2038s are ticking higher at 29.6 cents to the dollar, up by 1.64 pts.
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