Caribbean & Central America - October 2006 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Daniel Ortega, the opinion poll favourite to win the presidency in November's elections, said that if he won, his government would work with the IMF. This is a difference from other leftwing governments in the region, notably Venezuela and Argentina, which have broken with the IMF. Ortega said that he would not allow the IMF to impose economic policies but would negotiate with the Fund about the mix of policies the country should follow. Ortega said that it was important and necessary that the government should control the fiscal deficit; contain and reduce inflation and produce economic growth, but it was not necessary that the IMF should set every macro-economic target. Ortega went on to argue that, once the economy was growing, the economic question then should be why is the wealth that is being created being shared so narrowly?He argued that once growth was established the government should do more to redistribute wealth to improve education, labour rights and health.  

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