Santiago, March 18: Argentina's $4.45 billion austerity plan is ``good'' and should be supported internally and by other nations, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Saturday.``Now we have a very important package that merits internal and external support. Without entering into details, the package is good per se," said Claudio Loser, director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department.
``We have a very difficult situation in Argentina, but we are going to continue to be responsible partners with them.''
He was in Chile ahead of the Inter-American Development Bank's annual assembly, which will take place in Santiago from March 19 to 21. Argentina's new Economy Minister Ricardo Lopez Murphy presented a $4.45-billion mix of spending cuts and tax reforms on Friday aimed at shoring up investor confidence in the country's sluggish economy.
Immediately after that, six senior officials in the Centre-Left Alliance government resigned, or said they would. Also in Santiago, Guillermo Perry, a senior economist at the World Bank, said the spending cuts were ``solid'' and that domestic support is vital.
(Reuters)
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