Chronicle of an Inconclusive Negotiation: Perón, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank (1946–1955)

Abstract

Argentina joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) in 1956—ten years later than all other American nations and only one year after President Juan Perón’s overthrow. This fact has led scholars to conclude that Perón refused to join the Fund and Bank because he considered them to be tools of US imperialism. This article reveals that, contrary to populist depictions of Perón, he made significant efforts to make Argentina a member of the IMF and the World Bank. In effect, between 1946 and 1955 Perón conducted intensive and almost continuous negotiations with the IMF’s and World Bank’s most senior officials. During this period of confidential negotiations, Perón’s economic policies became more flexible and liberal.

La relación entre el FMI y los gobiernos tomadores de crédito. El aporte de la EPI centrado en la incidencia de los intereses

“…Conforme con Dreher y Jensen (2005), los acuerdos que firman países aliados de Estados Unidos poseen menos condicionalidades. Y diversos trabajos muestran que la afinidad política con Estados Unidos permite a los países facilitar su ingreso al organismo (Kedar, 2012), recibir un crédito del Fondo (Thacker, 1999) o evitar la inclusión de reformas muy exigentes (Momani, 2004).…”

The World Bank Lending and Non-Lending to Latin America: The Case of Argentina, 1971-1976

“…We would then also consider whether we should appraise the Fourth SEGBA Power Project» 46 . This unusual and by no means «neutral» request cannot but be related to the WB's simplistic assumptions about Perón, which attributed to him an (unsubstantiated) anti-IMF and anti-WB stand (Kedar 2012). To the Bank's surprise, in December 1973, Alejandro Orfila, the new 43 «La posición argentina en el FMI», Mercado, 4 October 1973.…”

“…The break in WB lending began during the presidency of General Alejandro Lanusse (1971-1973) and continued in what is known as the Third Peronism, under presidents Héctor Cámpora (May to July 1973), Raúl Lastiri (July to October 1973), Juan Perón (October 1973 to July 1974) and Isabel Perón (July 1974 to March 1976). Second, the memory of Argentina’s exclusion from the WB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the so-called First Peronism of the 1946-1955 period (Kedar 2012), and the fact that the Bank did not lend to the Peronist administrations of the 1970s but granted numerous loans to the dictatorial regime that deposed Isabel in 1976, might create the misleading impression that it was Peronism itself that caused or aggravated the break in WB lending. Reality, however, was more nuanced than these facts seem to indicate.…”

“…A key question is to what extent the borrower's type of regime influences the chances of receiving multilateral lending and/or loan conditions. Schultz and 5 For works on WB-Latin America prior to the Washington Consensus, see, among others: García Heras (2008), Kedar (2010Kedar ( , 2012, Kofas (2002), Urzúa (1997). 6 For works on the Third Peronism's economy, see, among others: Di Tella (1989), Leyba (2003), Rougier and Fiszbein (2006), Sidicaro (2011).…”

“… 5 For works on WB-Latin America prior to the Washington Consensus, see, among others: García Heras (2008), Kedar (2010, 2012), Kofas (2002), Urzúa (1997). …”