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Speaking at a Vatican conference on economic solidarity, she
told Reuters that the policies must stabilize the Argentine
economy and ensure that the most vulnerable in society are not
left out.
Georgieva and Argentine Economy Minister Martin Guzman, who is
also at the conference, held what both said were constructive
talks on the Latin American country's debt crisis on Tuesday
night.
"It is very important moment for Argentina to put in place
policies that are going to stabilize the economy, lead to
successful debt restructuring and respond to the expectations of
people that those who are the most vulnerable not be left out,"
she said.
Guzman told Reuters that his talks with Georgieva were "very
good and constructive", while she told reporters that it was a
"very constructive meeting".
Argentina needs to restructure $100 billion in sovereign debt
with creditors, including the IMF, amid a steep recession with
inflation above 50%
The Vatican conference at the Pontifical Academy of Social
Sciences brought together more than 25 government officials,
religious authorities, and economists, including Joseph Stiglitz,
the 2001 Nobel economics laureate.
"We are going to discuss how the world economy can be more
oriented toward the needs of everyone, how it can serve the
aspirations of all people and it (the Vatican) is a good place
to have that discussion," said Georgieva, who is Bulgarian.
Last Friday, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez met Pope
Francis and said the pontiff, who is also Argentine and lived
through a previous debt crisis when he was archbishop of Buenos
Aires, had promised him to do everything he could to help with
the current one.
Fernandez has promised to bridge social divisions and roll out a
massive credit system with low rates to bolster domestic demand,
and to boost spending to address hunger and poverty.
Stiglitz told the conference that the current Argentine debt
crisis gave the world an opportunity "to show that there is an
alternative approach to the one that has failed persistently in
the past".
He called for "a framework that simultaneously should appeal to
notions of economic rationality and to our sense of social
solidarity, a common humanity, which at this point in history
seems so under attack".
(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Giles
Elgood)
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