(Bloomberg) -- Argentina’s presidential front-runner Alberto Fernandez criticized his opponent, incumbent Mauricio Macri, for increasing short-term debt to unsustainable levels, although he said he doesn’t want to default on the country’s obligations.

“Nobody believes Macri can pay back the debt,” he said in an interview to a local TV channel in Buenos Aires on Monday, one day after a primary election victory that put him on track to win the presidency in the October election. “Bond prices indicate investors see the country in default.”

Argentina’s bonds and currency tumbled on Monday as investors fear Fernandez may bring back the populist policies once implemented by his running mate, former President Cristina Kirchner. Fernandez has yet to detail his economic policies, but has said he will seek to renegotiate the terms of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

He said the country needs to change its economic model and that the agribusiness sector insn’t selling enough grains to bring in all the dollars the country needs. Macri, he added, didn’t get the message from the streets.

“Macri didn’t understand anything,” Fernandez said. “It wasn’t a bad election, it was a terrible government. He deserved the punishment of the people.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Jorgelina do Rosario in Buenos Aires at jdorosario@bloomberg.net;Carolina Millan in Buenos Aires at cmillanronch@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Walter Brandimarte

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