Fitch: Argentine government unshaken by farm strike

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's government has not been significantly weakened by a 21-day farm strike that ended this week, but food shortages linked to the protest may push up inflation in the longer term, an official at Fitch Argentina said on Thursday.

"The strength of the political apparatus is such that it could withstand this pressure," Lorna Martin, managing director of Fitch Ratings' Argentine office, said at the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit in Buenos Aires.

But on inflation, Martin said that Fitch would be watching to see "if prices were adjusted (upward) because of the specific circumstances or if business owners took advantage of this and prices will stay at a higher level than what was expected."

The government must be more transparent on inflation, particularly if it wants to attract investors to peso-denominated debt, Martin said, referring to widespread accusations that the government under-reports inflation for political reasons and to keep its indexed debt payments down.

In any case, the government of President Cristina Fernandez should have no trouble meeting its financing needs this year, she said.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Cesar Illiano, Hilary Burke and Lucas Bergman, editing by Phil Berlowitz)