Macri's would-be Economy Minister Carlos Melconian: "There are $2 billion for the vultures"

[forest444]

In an interview with Radio Mitre, the economic policy adviser to right-wing PRO/'Let's Change' candidate Mauricio Macri, Carlos Melconian, referred to the dispute affecting the country with the holdouts who did not enter the 2005-10 debt restructuring (92% did). In this regard he stated that if Macri were elected President, US$2 billion of Central Bank reserves would be designated to cancel liabilities with the vulture funds. "You have to pay Griesa," stressed the economist.

It is not the first time that Melconian has spoken of the vulture funds and the need to solve problems in accessing the capital markets. What is striking is that this opinion is contrary to what had stated by the PRO candidate, Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri, in numerous campaign speeches. Assurances of immediate cash payments to vulture funds are also quite generous, considering that since the beginning of this year (when the RUFO clause that limited Argentina's options expired) they've stated willingness to accept bonds as payment.

The alleged "hard stance" vis-à-vis the vulture funds promised by Mauricio Macri on the stump is similarly contradicted by Melconian's recent statrements. "If we have to, we will negotiate with the hardest. I take care of the confidence that people give me and I will get the best possible conditions so that Argentina can grow again," promised Macri in a recent Radio 10 interview.

The original claim by vulture funds of US$ 428 million today represents more than US$ 1.6 billion, including principal, interest, and penalties awarded unilaterally by Griesa. More than half of that amount is claimed by Paul Singer's Cayman Islands-based NML Ltd., which originally bought defaulted bonds on the black market for $48.7 million in 2008, and, in the case of a Macri victory this October 25, now stands to receive a payout of 1,608%.

Who is this economist?

Carlos Melconian was head of the Department of External Debt of the Central Bank during the Carlos Menem administration in the 1990s, when foreign debt more than doubled despite massive privatizations. He was Menem's choice for Economy Minister in the 2003 election, which Menem forfeited.

According to official documents published in the news daily Página/12 he was one of the main architects of the policy that nationalized over $15 billion in private external debt in 1982 and 1983, during the last days of the dictatorship. During his tenure in the Menem years a decade later, Melconian also shelved investigations against multinational and local economic groups for billions in fraudulent debts discharged in the early eighties.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.politicargentina.com/notas/201510/9009-melconian-hay-us-2000-millones-para-los-buitres.html&prev=search
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And more than a few million of that for you and Signore Macri, eh Carlos?

[Demeter]

1. Who is the puppet, and who is the master? I'd ask that question, first.

[forest444]

2. That really is the question.

Its always been my impression that the real motivation behind this longstanding vulture attack, is to derail Argentina's highly successful debt restructuring swaps from 2005 and 2010, which were accepted by 92% of bondholders and which has yielded these same bondholders a 100%+ return.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Carlos Menem? Figures! Thanks for introducing Carlos Melconian here, with info. n/t