Argentine Ambassador Jorge Roballo warned the DR about its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stating that the organization’s policies in his country were effective in the short term, but later went on to increase poverty and unemployment. In an interview with Listin Diario, he stated that the IMF’s economic formulas had resulted in 40% of the Argentinian population living in poverty and 50% in destitution. Roballo said the administrations of presidents Eduardo Duhalde and later Nestor Kirchner engaged in extensive negotiations with the IMF to make them aware of the negative effects of the measures taken, and the multilateral organization admitted this. The diplomat explained that Argentina has survived the acute crisis, recovering its personality, and achieved a 9% economic growth this year compared to the 6% level estimated by the IMF. This enabled the country to renegotiate the foreign debt on better terms.