IMF's Argentina censure motion set for late January

The International Monetary Fund said its executive board is unlikely to consider until late January any possible action against Argentina for failing to supply accurate economic data. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde delivered a report to the board earlier on Argentina's progress in addressing questions about the official data. Contents of the report, intended to discuss negotiations with Argentina since July 2011 for Buenos Aires to provide accurate data on inflation and gross domestic product to the fund, were not immediately available. "I expect this report will be given due consideration by the Board sometime in late January," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said. In September, Lagarde warned that Argentina could be censured with a "red card" over the issue, after nearly two years of pressing the country to abide by IMF rules for providing accurate economic data. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner subsequently hit back, saying her nation would not be subjected to threats of any kind. Economists suspect Argentina has long supplied false data on its economy. In 2011, for example, Buenos Aires announced national inflation stood at 9.5 percent, but private analysts estimated it was actually more than double that figure -- at 23 percent. The stand-off has poisoned relations between Argentina and the IMF, already at odds over the country's financial crisis a decade ago.