Alberto Fernández took the tensions with the IMF to the limit during the meeting that he had with the institution representatives, who must decide whether to release a new expenditure of 5,400 million dollars. He accused them of having financed a historic flight of capital and of being responsible for the "social catastrophe" that faces Argentina.

During the meeting, which took place in the candidate's offices in San Telmo, Alberto told the specialists, who were led by Alejandro Werner, the IMF director for the Western Hemisphere, that if he became president, he would not support a model that didn't steer to economic growth. That way, he put both the current deficit program and the strict monetary policy at risk.

"I shared with the IMF our disposition to reformulate the agreements without demanding any more effort from our people," Fernández said once the meeting was over. Roberto Cardarelli and Trevor Alleyne, the specialists in charge of the Argentinian issue, were present in that meeting, along with economist Guillermo Nielsen and Cecilia Todesca Bocco, who had already played a role as intermediaries between Alberto and Lacunza. They were joined by Santiago Cafiero, who is thought to be a possible chief of staff if Fernández wins the presidential election.

"The critics of the IMF's program that argue that it didn't achieve any of its goals and that it substantially worsened the crisis, not only come from kirchnerism but also from the Wall Street specialized media, who point out that the plan submerged the economy into a recession, raised inflation, and cost Macri the elections". 

Tension grows in Argentina with the IMF in the face of non-fulfillment of payments

After the meeting, Alberto Fernández's campaign team published a statement in which it proclaimed the immovable view of Alberto against the IMF, where they pointed to the total failure of the organization to reach the four goals of the agreement (to regain the economy's growth, to generate jobs in order to fight poverty, to reduce inflation, and to achieve a decrease in public debt.) The Peronist candidate's team pointed out that the guidelines that the IMF suggested to apply, worked against those goals and "the Argentinian macroeconomic state has significantly deteriorated."

"Out of these four goals, not only none of them was reached, but everything got worse after that agreement was made: the economy declined by -1.7 %, the public debt increased by 29% of the GDP, unemployment went up 10.1%, poverty grew by more than 32%, and inflation rocketed to 53.9%," the statement released by Fernández's team said.

These arguments were shared by specialized media, such as the Zero Edge news website, which on a harsh story said that Argentina once more "humiliated" the IMF and placed the loan of more than 50 billion USD given to Macri at the edge of default. Zero Edge emphasized that the organization placed the Argentinian economy into a recession, triggered the inflation, and made Macri lose the elections.

With Guillermo Nielsen as a probable finande minister sitting at the table, Alberto repeated his concern for the fact that the credit given to the Argentinian Government by the IMF were used, in great part, to finance the flight of capital.

"As it was warned in June in the first meeting of Frente de Todos with the IMF staff, the last expenditure was used in its entirety to finance the flight of capital. This phenomenon represents a blatant breach to what Article VI of the Constitutive Act of the IMF states, where, in the first paragraph, it's established that no member nation may use the Fund's general resources to face a considerable or constant flight of capital," the text added. It's not the first time that the organization faces this accusation. In 2001, it was also said that it placed a financial cover to back the capital outflow and once it had finished, left Argentina hanging.

According to official numbers, since the signing of the agreement and up to July, 27,500 million dollars left the system under the concept of Formation of External Assets of free availability (flight of Argentinian capitals) and another 9,200 million dollars did so under the concept of foreign speculative investments (reinvestment of "swing" capital investments.) "In total, the net US dollar outflow surpasses 36,600 million, which represents more than 80% of received outlays to the date," noted Fernández's team.

"During the meeting with the IMF specialists, Alberto was clear in the fact that he's not the president yet and that he will not co-govern or back an economic policy that he doesn't share. To the Peronist candidate, the program that the organization and Macri agreed to reinstated problems that had already been solved, such as the country's debt sustainability".

 The economic program that the Argentinian Government is pushing doesn't reflect any of the priorities established by the Frente de Todos platform. There are no coincidences with the policy recommendations made by the IMF either 

During the meeting, Fernández insisted that he is not the president-elect and that he will not co-govern or support Mauricio Macri's decisions. As LPO said, the candidate doesn't want to hurt his chances as an opposing leader by backing the acts of the current government, with whom he doesn't share an economic view. In this sense, Fernández's position may convince the IMF not to make the next 5,400 USD million loan.

"The economic program that the Argentinian Government is pushing doesn't reflect any of the priorities established by the Frente de Todos platform. There are no coincidences with the policy recommendations made by the IMF either. Both represent dogmatic approaches that do not adjust to the current objective conditions and that doesn't solve the main structural problems that the Argentinian economy is facing", the text said.

To Fernández, Macri's program aggravated the economic heritage by raising inflation and reinstating problems that had already been solved, such as the country's debt sustainability.