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Anoop Singh, bitter pill for Argentina

By BRADLEY BROOKS, UPI Business Correspondent

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, June 11 -- It isn't every country where internal changes in the International Monetary Fund capture banner headlines, but this is, mind you, Argentina we are talking about.

This is a nation where a random person quizzed on the street could quite likely tell you the level of the country's risk rating, how the peso was performing within the last hour, and the status of negotiations with international lenders for the renewal of aid.

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So, it is in this atmosphere that the promotion this week of Anoop Singh, who heads IMF negotiations with Argentina, to the post of Director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department, which has responsibility for much of Latin America and the Caribbean, caused quite a stir. Argentines, never a people to sidestep drama, suspiciously noted that Singh will be replacing the retiring Claudio Loser, an Argentine whose star fell of late within the Fund and was whispered to be too soft on the region.

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Coincidence? Some smell conspiracy against Argentina.

Singh, who has led the IMF team in Argentina since February, is known within the country as a having a "mano duro" or hard hand. He is seen as the official who has held kept the Fund from acquiescing to an agreement when Argentina doesn't quite meet an IMF requirement. He has consistently pushed President Eduardo Duhalde and his economic team into corners, forcing them to face painful economic truths and subsequently the wrath of a population with no affinity for austerity measures.

Singh's heading the Western Hemisphere Department is not unlike, in Argentine eyes, a no-nonsense high school algebra teacher suddenly being promoted to vice principal in charge of discipline. No more free hall passes for the kids, everything is by the books from here on out, with frivolous field trips to the roller rink a thing of the past.

Singh features prominently in the Argentine press. He is rather crudely caricatured by many newspapers, who refer to him as "the Hindu" despite the fact that his last name usually indicates someone who belongs to the Sikh faith. For the record, a spokesman for the IMF declined to clarify Singh's religion, but did point out that the Argentines often use the word "hind" to signify a nationality when they really mean to use "indio" which would correctly indicate that Singh is an Indian national. Minor points, but in Argentina everything about an IMF team is under scrutiny.

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Singh, with more than 25 years of IMF experience who is now the director of Special Operations, has previously served as the deputy director of the Asia and Pacific department, where he played a large role in the financial crises of the 1990s. He has also headed Fund missions to Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand.

In announcing the appointment, the Fund's Managing Director Horst Kohler said that Singh "has demonstrated strong operational and intellectual leadership in a variety of assignments. This background will serve Anoop well as he takes on the challenges of his new position in this critically important region."

Argentine officials have been known to make complaints to higher ups at the Fund about Singh's tough stance. But the Duhalde administration isn't saying much about his promotion, about which it is posing nonchalant.

"The internal movements (of the Fund) don't concern us," said Duhalde's Cabinet Chief Alfredo Atanasof, in what might have been a slight exaggeration considering the Fund holds, in many economists view, the key to the country's economic survival.

Singh, according to IMF documents obtained by the local daily Clarin, has fended off pressure within the Fund to reach a quick accord with Argentina, which some argue would stave off increased risks of contagion in Uruguay and Brazil, the latter of which now has a country risk level higher than Venezuela, which recently saw a 48-hour coup.

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With his promotion, the Fund's hard line is certainly going to continue. For instance, Singh, in the documents obtained by Clarin, blasted Argentina's plan to end its freeze on banking accounts by voluntarily swapping citizens' money for government bonds: "If there are not modifications, the pressure will be untenable on the banks, liquidity, the intervention of the Central Bank and the exchange rate." Singh said that the Fund is eager to renew negotiations with Argentina, but only when the country's provides clarifying details on what it plans to do to save the banking system.

On Tuesday, Argentina's Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna said that an IMF team was to arrive in Buenos Aires on Thursday, though there wasn't word from the Fund as to the accuracy of this.

Irregardless of when the negotiating team arrives, a rocky road is what Argentina's leaders will continue to face. An IMF negotiating team is unlikely to back down from requiring the utmost transparency from a country known for its murky political past. But, like a student with animosity for discipline faced in formative years, Argentina may be appreciative in years to come if the demands made of it now result in a more sound economic tomorrow. |end| Content: 04008000 04008005 04008010

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