Failure of the projection According to Lagarde, the IMF underestimated the crisis and inflation

WASHINGTON.-

Christine Lagarde

recognized that the International Monetary Fund (

MFIs

) underestimated the difficulties of the Argentine economy and that inflation has been much more "resistant" and "takes longer than expected" to fall. Nevertheless, Ms. Lagarde was "reasonably and hopefully optimistic" about the evolution of the Argentine program in light of the latest data provided by the economy and advocated, once again, to stay the course.

Speaking of the global situation at the American Business Institute (AEI, Washington), Lagarde answered a question about Argentina, two weeks after the first year of implementation of the agreement closed by the government of

Mauricio Macri

, the largest in the history of the Fund, which, after being amended, amounted to 57 billion US dollars.

Mrs Lagarde said that he felt "reasonably and hopefully positive" about the latest developments in the economy and, true to the brochure proposed by the Fund, insisted that the implementation " Continuous "program will eventually turn it into a" successful "plan. . But Lagarde also acknowledged that the Fund and the government had underestimated the severity of the crisis and implicitly admitted that they were too optimistic about the decline in inflation, claiming that it was "much more resilient" than expected.

"It is an incredibly complicated economic situation that many actors, including ourselves, have underestimated a bit when we started trying to arm the Argentine authorities with a program to remedy what had been critical for the economy, namely the fiscal situation, the current account, "said Lagarde. "In both cases, the situation has improved significantly and continues to show signs of improvement," he added.

"I think the most surprising component, but one that is improving now in the most recent figures we are getting, is inflation which, instead of stabilizing and gradually diminishing as we do it, is the most surprising component. had planned, demonstrated a much higher resistance than we thought, decline, but it takes longer than expected, "he added.

Lagarde will travel to Japan this weekend for the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Presidents in Fukuoka. He is scheduled to meet on Saturday Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne. They both met for the last time in April, in Washington, at the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank, while the Argentinian government was seeking permission from the Fund to intervene in Washington. the foreign exchange market, which he finally achieved. Lagarde said the dollar was a "barometer of the people".

Lagarde's presentation focused more than anything on the situation and, in particular, on the impact of the trade war between the United States and China. On more than one occasion, Lagarde used the word "fragility" to talk about the global economy and said the current growth was "precarious". Lagarde has called on the G20 to try to help resolve this dispute, which threatens to derail the global economy (see World).

Questions were raised about three specific countries: Turkey, which in the previous year had its own exchange rate; Venezuela, plunged into a deep humanitarian crisis, and Argentina. Speaking of Venezuela, Lagarde said that it was the worst economic situation they had known and that, for the moment, the only thing the Fund can do is prepare to be able to help the country if, finally, the regime of Nicolás Maduro gave up power.