Word: argentina
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Despite last week's meeting, the Latin American countries do not form a united and cohesive bloc. While the two heaviest debtors, Brazil ($93.1 billion) and Mexico ($89.8 billion), have taken drastic measures to rein in their runaway economies, Argentina ($45.3 billion) is still a maverick. Two weeks ago, Argentine President Raúl Alfonsín rejected an IMF austerity demand for cuts in wages and government spending, which was designed to curb his country's 568% inflation rate. Alfonsín sent the IMF a plan that promised workers 6% to 8% wage increases...
...Argentina's complaints about the tough IMF measures failed to earn the country much sympathy last week from Latin neighbors. The nation drew criticism from Colombian Finance Minister Edgar Gutiérrez Castro, whose government lent Argentina $50 million last March. Bankers and international officials attack Argentina's stance as an act of political bravura. Says a World Bank economist: "They are handling the debt the way they were handling the Falklands war. They see themselves as the center of the universe...
...consumers to go on import-spending sprees. Even though Chile's unemployment rate in 1981 was 35%, the country was a major importer of radios, TV sets, refrigerators and cars. The surge in foreign auto sales has made Santiago one of the world's most polluted capitals. Argentina went on a similar binge starting in the late 1970s, a period known as La Plata Dulce-the sweet money...
...greatest amount of flight capital, $28 billion, came out of Mexico. Middle-class Mexicans developed a taste for condominiums in Vail and Aspen, and real estate investments from San Diego to Europe. Venezuela suffered $23 billion in foreign outflows, followed by Argentina with $12 billion...
...developing nations have gone deeper into debt in recent years, the IMF has become a major target of their hostility. They covet its money, but fear the consequences of borrowing it. Argentina, for example, desperately needs $2.1 billion in IMF credits. But in return for the money, the fund insists on a range of tightfisted economic policies that could shatter the country's brittle new democracy. Two weeks ago, Argentine President Raúl Alfonsín bypassed fund negotiators and appealed directly to IMF Managing Director Jacques de Larosière for more lenient terms. Yet neither Alfons...