Joseph Stiglitz: "Macri borrowed too much from …

"Argentina can avoid restructuring its obligations if the authorities reverse in time the austerity measures that stifle growth to stimulate economic growth and avoid a debt crisis"Said the US economist Joseph Stiglitz. The Nobel laureate has asked about the program adopted by the government of Mauricio Macri to access the IMF financing. "I think it's quite likely that (Fernández) is leading a better policy," said Stiglitz, questioning the economic orientation chosen by the Cambiemos administration over the past four years.

"The problem is that the policies to which the government has committed have not led to economic growth"Stiglitz said in an interview with Reuters news agency. "Austerity and tight budgets lead to weak growth and this makes the debt less sustainable"said the professor at Columbia University.

Asked about the chances of success of a change in economic policy with the arrival of a new government, Stiglitz warned that "if it is enough to avoid a debt restructuring, it depends on the depth of the hole dug by Macri over the last three years and medium ". The former chief economist of the World Bank also questioned the pace of external debt badumed from 2016. "Macri started with an almost honest slate and borrowed too much. He bet big and bad, intended to refer to the low levels of debt inherited from the Kirchner administration.

During the last interview with PáginaI12 in November 2015, Stiglitz strongly questioned the public expenditure reduction programs that, after the replacement of the president, and especially since the return of the IMF, would be applied again in Argentina. "The adjustment in recession generates social disasters.Financial austerity in times of recession, when the private sector also reduces its spending, only exacerbates the contraction scenario," said L & # 39; Economist before consulting this journal.

Stiglitz closely follows everything that happens in the Argentine economy. Over the past decade, the economist has relied on the experience of the country emerging from a 2001-2002 crisis to show the existence of alternative macroeconomic strategies for the economy. # 39; s fit. "Argentina has a lot to teach the rest of the world about solving macroeconomic crises and restructuring sovereign debt. The way in which it solved its crisis of 2001-2002 led to the strong growth observed until 2008. Argentina was one of the few countries to succeed in reducing inequalities and inequality. post-crisis poverty. "Three years later, he strongly criticized the economic measures taken by the Macri government.