Argentina Revives Kirchner Accounting Moves to Ease Cash Crunch
- Maneuvers will free up $5 billion of cash for the government
- Government used funds to make IMF payment on Wednesday
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Argentina is resurrecting a page out of former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s playbook by raising money for fiscal expenses through complex accounting maneuvers and by selling bonds to the central bank that skeptics say are unlikely to ever be repaid.
The moves by President Alberto Fernandez’s administration -- which includes de Kirchner as vice president -- were spurred by the International Monetary Fund’s decision to grant the country $4.3 billion of special drawing rights, part of a campaign to help countries cope with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and shore up foreign reserves.