State workers demonstrate outside Argentina's Congress in Buenos Aires in September 2016. Argentine President Mauricio Macri's decision to negotiate a loan with the International Monetary Fund will complicate his efforts to secure re-election next year.
(EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images)
The weather is about to get a lot heavier for Argentine President Mauricio Macri. He has begun negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for up to $30 billion in flexible credit to halt the Argentine peso's slide, but the move has hurt Macri's standing, providing his opponents with abundant political ammunition to fight his policies. An IMF loan might help Argentina boost its international reserves and tackle the peso's depreciation, but the decision to beat a path to the door of an old foe -- at least in the minds of many Argentines who remember the country's ruinous financial crisis in 2001 -- could seriously dent Macri's chances of retaining his office in next year's elections....
