: Default the IMF or default the people: The Argentine Dilemma #IndiaNEWSAll #International On 28 January 2022, the Argentine government announced a nearly billion deal with the International Monetary

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Default the IMF or default the people: The Argentine Dilemma #IndiaNEWSAll #International
On 28 January 2022, the Argentine government announced a nearly billion deal with the International Monetary Fund. In response, thousands of people took to the streets of the nation’s capital in Bueno Aires answering a call by leftist civil society organizations. The protesters have called for the government to cut ties with the IMF.
The deal was a restructuring of a deal made in 2018 when Argentina went into extreme levels of inflation, leading to a heavy devaluation of the Argentine Peso. The economic crisis was sparked by a combination of drought and the return of many businesses from Argentina to the United States. This resulted in a huge loss of tax revenue and a drop in demand for the Peso. The Argentinan government then sought a loan from the IMF of nearly billion and agreed to cut public spending, which later expanded to billion, making it the largest loan by the IMF in history. The government managed to curb inflation slightly, but with the COVID Pandemic, the country fell into dire straights once again.
Debt trap after debt trap
Over the past 50 years, Argentina has spiralled into international debt traps. Nearly a hundred years ago, Argentina had a very large GDP. Many thought that it would dominate the Southern Americas the way the US dominated the northern Americas. The economy was extremely unequal and underdeveloped, but it was culturally and economically very influential.
Argentina has been a democracy since 1983 with elections happening regularly. However, the government was still very beholden to foreign markets. By 1985, then President Raul Alfonsin, instituted austerity measures, leading to an economic collapse in the late 1980s. The resulting collapse led to a huge public deficit and popular upheaval. The Country began borrowing from the IMF.
Rise of the Piqueteros
The labour movement was known as the Piqueteros. Piquetero is Spanish, meaning picketer, referring to their protests outside of their place of work. As jobs were cut, the Piqueteros became a national movement to protect poor working-class people. Over time, the Piqueteros became more organized in their actions. They began to make decisions by the assembly, developing support systems across working groups, and helping build worker cooperatives. They also worked with local crime mafias, leading to disrepute with the middle class, and making them targets of attack by right-wing politicians.

The Argentine Great Depression
In the late 1990s, many of Argentinas trading partners (Latin American countries in similar situations) were getting economically weaker. Argentina then fell into depression, sometimes called the Argentine Great Depression.

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