That day, the members of the board received the dossier signed by the Norwegian economist Odd Per Back, responsible for the investigation on the origin and consequences of the approval and execution of the loan; where the long history of failures in the loan lines between Argentina and the IMF is also mentioned.
At the end of the exhibition, the representation of the United States before the board (where it holds almost 18% of the votes), was the only one to question it and defended the “absolute” legality of the aid package for the country; mentioning that it advanced in 2018 and 2019 within the channels of the IMF, with all the necessary legalities. And that although it was an obviously unsuccessful program, this was due exclusively to internal issues in Argentina and not to failures in the design and approval of the loan.
Although the “Ex-Post Evaluation” directed and written by Per Beck points to technical and executive criticisms but not legal or institutional (in short, the Norwegian is a man who came to the IMF at the hands of Christine Lagarde, who named him as the major responsible for Asian cases); Many see in the advance of the United States on the final proposal the attempt to make clear within the leadership of the IMF, that the problem was not the support from Washington but the policies applied in Buenos Aires. And the electoral climate at the end of 2019. No one mentioned it in the presentation of December 22 (neither it appears in the report nor was it discussed in the directory), but the approval of the alteration of the IMF Charter towards mid-2019, that it allowed the government of Mauricio Macri to use loan dollars to execute direct exchange policy (and not use the funds to pay debt maturities); It was the result of the particular pressure of the Donald Trump government on the board.
It was through a direct call that the then US Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin made to the IMF’s number two at the time, David Lipton; to execute the order from the White House. The remarkable thing is that Lipton refused during long hours of discussion to accept the pressure, openly criticizing any alteration of the IMF statute; and less with Argentina, a country that already had serious problems to comply with what was signed. The pressure from the Trump administration was stronger and the board ended up approving the free pass so that the Macri administration could use dollars outside of the original guidelines.
But then Argentina was unlucky. The ejection moves of the IMF executives with the arrival of Kristalina Georgieva, caused Lipton to leave his post in February 2020 in the hands of his Republican compatriot and former Trump administration man, Seiji Okamoto, since he was always the number one position. two belong to the US and in general there are no major controversies to what is proposed from the White House.
Lipton seemed to have a return to the hosts of Wall Street where he trained and worked for decades. However, he was called by Janet Yellen to continue working in Washington, in this case as a direct advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on issues related to the presence of the United States in international financial organizations, including the IMF, the World Bank, the Bank. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Paris Club.
All creditors to whom the country owes billions of dollars combined. Apparently, and after a somewhat auspicious beginning of a relationship with the Argentine negotiators of the Alberto Fernández government; in recent months it became clear that both Okamoto and Lipton represent the hard line against Argentina; and lead the demand for tough goals to the delegates of Martín Guzmán to advance in a final agreement.