the game of "blame" deepens the agony of Argentina

"Argentina seems to be in a circle where we are constantly returning to the same port, which is not what we dreamed of."

Finance Minister Hernán Lacunza may or may not succeed in saving Argentina's sickly economy, but he still deserves a price for underestimation.

Lacunza spoke after the government again imposed capital checks Sunday in a desperate battle to prevent a collapse of the market before the presidential elections in October. Inflation is above 50%, interest rates from the central bank debt auction have reached 85% and savers are lining up in front of the banks to withdraw their dollars.

This nightmare was not primarily President Mauricio Macri. It was the result of his bad defeat in a first national election on August 11 in front of a populist opponent, Peronist Alberto Fernández. The unexpected result of a contest widely regarded as a dry run for the panic markets of the October polls. Investors fear a return to the failure of Peron nationalization policies, generous public subsidies and the printing of money.

Aware that a non-Peronist president has never ended his presidential term in the recent history of Argentina, Macri's main priority now is survival.

This means preserving the decline in foreign exchange reserves, which underlies the weakening of the Argentine peso, and attempting to renegotiate a mountain of debts of $ 101 billion, accumulated mainly during his tenure. All this by campaigning for voters to give him four more years as the best man to lead the economy.

Macri's problem is that in the absence of 54 days for the presidential election that it is almost certain to lose, Argentina is in limbo. Investors lost confidence in the country's ability to pay its debts. Savers fear the worst and have no incentive to keep their money in the bank. Exporters are concerned by the new obligation to repatriate their dollars and convert them into fast-amortizing pesos in five days.

On Sunday, Fernandez went to Spain and Portugal for a week. The implicit message was clear: the Argentine disaster was not his fault and Macri had to solve it.

To restore confidence, Argentina must restructure its debts under the auspices of the IMF, which has already lent to this country $ 44 billion on a $ 57 billion program. But neither the Fund nor the bondholders are interested in negotiating only with a president who is unlikely to remain in office after December.

For all those who care about the long-term future of the country, the answer seems obvious. Macri should sit down with Fernández and agree on a series of temporary measures to help Argentina in the difficult months ahead.

This is where the dynamics of the election campaign come into conflict. Arturo Porzecanski, a former Wall Street emerging market economist, currently at the American University of Washington, believes that Argentina should follow Brazil's example of 2002 on how to handle an electoral transition.

The market's concern over a possible victory for the left was appeased when Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the candidate who finally won, promised several months before the elections to follow a sound monetary and fiscal policy and to respect the rule of law. He also pledged to stick to an IMF austerity program and offered to meet with Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the outgoing president, to discuss the economy.

The crucial difference lies in the fact that Cardoso and Lula da Silva did not clash in the elections: Cardoso had completed the two maximum terms and had every reason to want to retire without a hitch.

Fernández follows a different strategy. He blamed Mr Macri and the IMF for the problems of Argentina, pledged to increase consumption when he was elected without asking permission from the IMF and described Argentina. like a "virtual flaw".

Siobhan Morden, head of fixed income Latin American securities at Amherst Pierpont Securities, said the outlook for Argentina depended on Fernandez's adoption of sound management of the policy economic. "The last weeks of campaign speeches are not encouraging," he said.

Sunday night, Fernandez went to Spain and Portugal for a week. The implicit message was clear: the Argentine disaster was not his fault and Macri had to solve it.

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