Bolsonaro Fears A Kirchner Win in Argentine Elections

[Judi Lynn]

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro gestures during a ceremony at the Planalto Palace
in Brasilia | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 April 2019 (5 hours 46 minutes ago)

Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro expressed fear that Argentina will reelect former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in the polls this October and tried to blame the Argentine two-year economic downspiral on Macri's "timid" implementation of austerity measures.

Addressing reporters in Brasilia, Bolsonaro blamed Argentina's economic difficulties on President Mauricio Macri's "timid" application of neoliberal reforms. The former military office said that Macri only went through with "half" of the reforms.

"Argentina made a timid (pension) reform and now Macri is having problems and the problems are getting bigger," Bolsonaro told reporters. "The opposition can return (in Argentina) and that is our concern."

Since entering office in 2015 Macri has slashed energy and transportation subsidies, tens of thousands of public jobs, and ministries in order to appease the the International Monetary Fund (IMF) directors who awarded the administration a total of US$56.6 billion in loans by September 2018. The result has pushed extreme poverty to at least 32 percent and inflation has risen to over 54 percent because of the pesos extreme devaluation.

More:
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolsonaro-Fears-A-Kirchner-Win-in-Argentine-Elections-20190427-0013.html