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Strategies & Market Trends : Strictly: Drilling II -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SliderOnTheBlack who wrote (11017)	4/24/2002 8:37:21 AM
From: Frank Pembleton	Respond to of 36161

Argentine economy minister quits President may also resign to bring forward '03 election Stephen Brown -- Reuters BUENOS AIRES - Argentina's economy minister resigned yesterday after Congress delayed the embattled government's unpopular plans to avert a banking collapse by giving depositors bonds instead of cash. Jorge Remes Lenicov quit amid media speculation that others, including Eduardo Duhalde, the President, could resign and bring forward elections due in 2003. Mr. Duhalde was put in charge by Congress in January after deadly riots and economic chaos forced the elected president to resign. "Yes, it has happened," an Economy Ministry official said when asked if Remes Lenicov, who returned empty-handed from Washington, where he had sought International Monetary Fund help, this weekend, had stepped down. A senior ministry source said the likely replacement was Alieto Guadagni, the Energy Secretary. He ran the industry department for former president Carlos Menem in the 1990s. However, his appointment could not be confirmed. Latin America's No. 3 economy was thrown into turmoil by January's devaluation of the Argentine peso, which was pegged at one to the U.S. dollar for over a decade to stabilize prices. This week the government ordered all banks to shut until Friday while Congress debated the bonds-for-savings plan -- angering legislators who saw the bank holiday as blackmail. "It's essentially a reflection of the failure of (Remes Lenicov's) bonds plan. Whereas it was going to be really grim for the man on the street, it was generally seen as the orthodox way out of a really nightmarish situation," said Ben Laidler, an analyst at UBS Warburg bank. Christian Stracke, emerging market debt strategist at Commerzbank, said it seemed Mr. Duhalde's support was "crumbling away" -- reflecting the atmosphere on the streets where protesters' anger is directed at the entire political class. The most common slogan is "They Must All Go!" Argentine Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich, whose job was also reported to be on the line, put a brave face on Congress' reaction, saying it "was not meant as resistance but in a spirit of co-operation." But legislators who faced taunting crowds outside Congress on Monday and fresh protests yesterday, said they did not want banks to get away scot-free, offloading depositors on the state via the issue of government bonds. "There are two positions: either we take the side of the banks or we take the side of the people," said Peronist deputy Mario Becerra. Foreign banks here blame local authorities for dashing faith in the financial system by declaring a freeze on deposits in December in order to save Argentine-owned banks suffering liquidity problems. nationalpost.com