President Cristina Fernandez said Monday that keeping Argentina's economy growing despite the global consumption slowdown is her top priority as she looks forward to what seems like a certain re-election in October, according to AP. Fernandez got just over 50 percent of the valid votes in Sunday's primary, leading her nearest challengers by more than 37 percentage points. Buoyed by the results, she held her first news conference in more than a year, and vowed to keep Argentina's economy growing strong. "I've given my heart and soul these four years," she said, thanking her supporters. "The people value the ability of leaders to respond to problems in a crisis." Fernandez said her government is quite concerned that budget cuts being made in the United States and Europe will depress economic activity around the globe, hitting the poor the hardest. Argentina will keep spending revenues and reserves to create jobs and build a more egalitarian society, she said. "We've always tried to make it so that the most vulnerable sectors of society aren't made to carry the burden of each crisis," Fernandez said. Boosted by rising commodity prices, Argentina's economy is growing about 6.5 percent this year, continuing an expansion that began when Fernandez's husband, the late Nestor Kirchner, was elected president in 2003 in the wake of the country's world-record default and currency devaluation. Key to the comeback was Kirchner's determination to pay about 30 cents on the dollar for Argentine bonds issued befroe the currency lost three-fourths of its value. Most investors reluctantly accepted the deal, which also made it difficult for Argentina to take on more foreign debt. Many economic analysts as well as Argentina's opposition newspapers regularly predict another crash once commodity prices fall or inflation outpaces the government's ability to keep spending on social programs. Asked Monday to explain her strategy for maintaining Argentina's spending and debt commitments in the coming year, she joked that talking about even one year ahead is like discussing what may happen centuries from now. "When we have a clearer global picture of what others are going to do, and strictly based on reality, we're going to take the measures that we have to take, just as we always have," she said. The primary results reflect opinion polls saying that more than two-thirds of Argentines believe the economy will remain stable or improve, said Daniel Kerner, a Latin America analyst with Eurasia Group. Argentine consumer confidence is at record high levels, he added. "There's no clear generalized sense that the country is going into a crisis or is being poorly run, beyond what is said in the opposition newspapers. It's an elite view. Some 15 percent think it's getting worse, maybe a bit more, but it's certainly not a generalized feeling," Kerner said. With 97 percent of polling places reporting, the president's leading challengers - Deputy Ricardo Alfonsin and former President Eduardo Duhalde - were tied at 12 percent. Socialist Gov. Hermes Binner got 10 percent of Sunday's votes, and six others split the rest. Because many lower-ranking politicians depend on each party leader's support in their own races, chances are slim that the opposition will unify in what now seems like a hopeless attempt to unseat Fernandez on Oct. 23, analysts said.
