Explainer: Argentine debt – back to the 80s? With Prof Danny Leipziger (GWU)

THE EXPLAINER: In this interview with Andrew Hilton of the Center for the Study of Financial Innovation, Danny Leipizger, long associated with economic issues in Argentina, explains the complicated relationship between Argentina and the IMF.

Why you should watch: For economists of a certain age, Argentina is the gift that goes on giving. For the IMF, it is a recurring nightmare. And for investment bankers (who actually bought into Argentina’s 100-year bond issue in 2017), it ought to be a lesson that they are not as smart as they think they are. Come March, Buenos Aires is supposed to repay US$45 billion to the IMF. It won’t happen – not least because the country’s total reserves are only around US$35 billion. But will Argentina risk arrears with the Fund? Or will the Fund blink? This brief Explainer explores the options – another currency board, dollarisation, a technocratic administration? Or just more of the same old same old muddling through?

Produced/Edited by Alex Treptow