Kirchner to referee Lagarde: My country is not a soccer team

The Argentinian government is not responding well to a slightly condescending warning from IMF Chief Christine Lagarde: International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde has warned Argentina it could face sanctions unless it produces reliable growth and inflation data. Ms Lagarde gave Argentina until 17 December to address the problem. The IMF head said the fund ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/GettyImages
JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/GettyImages
JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/GettyImages

The Argentinian government is not responding well to a slightly condescending warning from IMF Chief Christine Lagarde:

The Argentinian government is not responding well to a slightly condescending warning from IMF Chief Christine Lagarde:

International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde has warned Argentina it could face sanctions unless it produces reliable growth and inflation data.

Ms Lagarde gave Argentina until 17 December to address the problem.

The IMF head said the fund had given Argentina a "yellow card" but it could face a red.[…]

"Argentina is good in football and it certainly understands what we are talking about," said Ms Lagarde.

But President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is challenging the ruling on the field (I know. Wrong kind of football. Work with me here.):

“My country is not a soccer team, it is a sovereign country and as such is not going to accept a threat,” Fernandez said in her UN speech. “This is not a soccer game, this is the most serious economic crisis since the 1930s.”

Insert replacement ref joke here. (It will at least be better than Wall Street Journal’s recent attempt.) 

Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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