Argentina has everything, but ........

Argentina has everything going for it in the world.

The country is endowed with wide swaths of arable land and abundant natural resources, including natural gas. It has one of the most interconnected river transport systems in the world and is a major producer of grains and meat.

Argentina’s biggest challenge, however, is leadership. Decades of populist policies, military turnovers and severe economic mismanagement have the country constantly flirting with economic collapse.

Buenos Aires is attempting to regain some financial credibility following a debt exchange that has settled the bulk of the country’s historic 2002-02 default, but heavy doubts are hanging on the leadership of the country.

Argentina is far more likely to use its renewed access to the international credit market to incur more debt in financing its populist policies than to undergo the harsh and politically unpalatable austerity measures necessary to address the issues that led Argentina to default in the first place.

Connoisseur