IMF -ARGENTINA'S- UGH

Argentina's Macri is really stuck between the IMF and a very hard place.......

ARGENTINE President Mauricio Macri is used to seeing bad poll numbers, as he struggles to drive through an unpopular austerity program that has cut fuel subsidies, raised taxes and sent utility bills soaring.

But a poll out this week had a particularly worrisome number that could spell trouble for Macri's  hopes to squeeze additional budget cuts through Congress and with what promises to be a hard fought re-election campaign next year.

The survey of 2,400  Argentines by local firm Management & Fit showed that for the first time since Macri romped to victory in 2015,  60 percent of Argentines  expect the economy to get ''worse'' or  'much worse'  over the months ahead. Only 34 percent held that pessimistic view a year ago.

It's not surprising that Macri's approval rating - now under 27 percent - is down given that the president was forced to seek an International Monetary Fund rescue package after the country's currency and inflation spiralled out of control earlier this year.

But, as he raises export taxes and gears up for additional cuts and in popular electricity, water and home heating oil subsidies, the poll shows an absence of hope on the part of voters that could poison his re-election effort.

In the latest sign that the government's shock therapy remedies - including 60 percent benchmark interest rates - are failing to cure inflation, the government his week said consumer prices shot 6.5 percent higher in September in September, bringing the 12-month rate to 40.5 percent and climbing.

Luckily for Macri, his most prominent opponent, the left leaning populist ex-President Cristina Fernandez, has been too busy fighting off multiple corruption indictments to pose much of a threat ahead of his 2019 re-election bid. [Agencies]