ALARUMS AND EXCURSIONS IN ARGENTINA
Up to the moment when Alfredo Concepcion, president of Argentina's central bank, resigned and took the bank's whole board with him, members of the government were telling Euromoney that there were no differences between themselves and Concepcion.
They were also suggesting that the outside world was worrying too much about a possible resurgence of Argentina's inflation. (It was down to 4.4% for the month of June, but up again to 6.8% in July.) At the Economy Ministry, Jose Luis Machinea, deputy minister and negotiator for the rise in Argentine foreign debt, said smoothly: "This inflation index is a result of our not having advanced sufficiently in structural reforms, which would give greater credibility to our long-term plans in the economic programme.'
A few days later Machinea was walking into the job that Concepcion had walked out of. The point at issue had turned out to be not structural reforms but the failure to keep a promise. The Economy Minister, Juan Vital Sourrouille, told the IMF in June that the government would keep domestic lending under control and restrict the growth in the money supply to 3% of GNP.