Will Argentina’s economy do the dead cat bounce?

Argentina is about to default; again. It will be the ninth time in the past 200 years, and the Latin American sovereign is about to test its ability to survive beyond the ascribed mortality of cats.

In June, this column predicted that default was inevitable, whoever won the coming presidential election. The foreign currency debt dynamics that had led to the IMF’s $56 billion rescue package had become a mortal weakness. That rising debt meant that the IMF was to be the life support for an economy that would never be able to recover sufficient strength to return to the international capital markets. (Luckily for Christine Lagarde, her departure means that she will avoid mopping up after the fund’s largest ever bet collapses.

Thanks for your interest in Euromoney!
To unlock this article: