Argentina’s tariff battle will be Macri’s making
Protesters at a demonstration against Argentine President Mauricio Macri’s utility price hikes. (PA)
Argentina is a country where unwanted obligations are fought with ‘viveza criolla’, a sort of folksy cunning that, in small amounts, is considered a virtue. Rules are there to be broken.
But now, bills are there to be unpaid – and that is not popular wisdom, but an official recommendation. The country’s Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña said last week that Argentines do not have to settle their gas bills until the country’s Supreme Court rules whether the government’s attempt to ratchet up the price of the fuel is legal.