Kirchner and Lula: different ways to give the Fund the kiss off

摘要

Whatever the economics involved, wriggling free from the tutelage of the imf is always good politics, in Latin America in particular. That is why Brazil's finance ministry announced on December 13th that it would repay early its entire debt of $15.5 billion falling due to the imf over the next two years. The immediate effect was to rush Nestor Kirchner, Argentina's president, into an identical declaration just two days later. He said his government would repay $9.8 billion to the Fund, before the end of this month. In both cases, the motivations were similar. More telling was the difference in market reaction and policy implications.