Argentina shielded from external crisis - first lady

By Walter Brandimarte

NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Argentina's prudent fiscal policies and record-high foreign reserves are shielding its economy against external crisis, including the financial turbulence originated in the U.S. subprime mortgage market, the country's first lady and presidential race front-runner Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said on Wednesday.

"Our fiscal solvency and the correct administration of revenues, the accumulation of record foreign reserves of more than $43 billion ... are our safeguards against the mortgage crisis," she said, adding that Argentina's fiscal model reduced its vulnerability to external shocks.

Speaking to investors and analysts in New York, Fernandez also blamed recent power shortages on "the worst drought of the past 50 years" and said the country will continue to diversify its sources of energy in order to guarantee supplies for the industrial sector.

"I have full confidence that there will be no energy problem in Argentina for production," she said, adding that, after several talks with investors in New York, she is convinced that Argentina will continue to attract investment.

Fernandez also promised to keep her husband's policies of "development and re-industrialization," while maintaining a strong primary fiscal surplus.

She argued it is a "cliche" to say that Argentina's progressive politicians are not fiscally responsible, because "the (neo) liberals who took classes at Harvard were precisely those who created the country's chronic and deadly indebtedness."

The Argentine first lady, who is also a prominent senator, said her husband's fiscal policies were similar to the ones adopted by the former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

"The Democrats were always known as bad administrators, but Bill Clinton ended his second term with a (fiscal) surplus that the Republican administration reversed," she said.

(For more on Argentina's October presidential election, click on www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/argentina)