Argentina’s interim president Adolfo Rodriguez Saa has said he will suspend payment of the country’s foreign debt payment that led to widespread unrest last week.
The announcement by the 54-year-old leader prompted a rousing ovation in the Argentinean congress after it had voted 169-38 to appoint him, after a night-long debate yesterday.
Rushing to fill the term vacated last week by President Fernando de la Rua, Rodriguez Saa is to rule until a new leader is elected next March.
Argentina's failure to pay its debt would force it into the world's biggest sovereign default.
The new president insisted suspending the payment of the 132 billion US dollar debt would not mean a repudiation of the debt and that he would seek to enter into dialogue with the country’s creditors.
Rodriguez Saa succeeded de la Rua, who resigned last Thursday after violent protests against his government's handling of Argentina's lagging economic crisis. At least 27 people died as a result of the unrest.
The new leader said his priority would be to help pull the people out of a four-year recession that has left nearly 40% of Argentina's 36 million population in poverty. Some 18% are jobless.
The measures announced by Rodriguez Saa mark a radical shift from his predecessor.
The new president ruled out a devaluation and dismissed calls to replace Argentina's currency, the peso, with the US dollar. Instead, he announced plans to introduce a new "third currency," but did not elaborate on the plan.
He also vowed to distribute food among jobless families and to create one million jobs in Argentina.
"Wherever an Argentine family exists without a job, that will be our priority," he said.
Rodriguez Saa's announcement on suspending the foreign debt payment won widespread support, especially from leaders within his Peronist Party, now returning to power after two years in opposition.
He easily won the nomination from his party to become Argentina's president, but the debate was heated over the terms of his brief presidency. He took over from Senate leader Ramon Puerta, who served as acting president for two days after de la Rua's departure.
AP