Government managed to kick off the payment plan with the IMF and gained 10 days, precious time between losses of reserves and rumors about possible measures.
yes, the $2.7 billion that is past due this Monday and Tuesday They will be canceled only on March 31st, following the organization’s board meeting, which is expected to approve a US$5.3 billion disbursement. With these funds, Argentina will pay the deadlines.
The Fund confirmed the change of plans on Tuesday after the Economy Ministry announced it on Monday. “We can confirm that the Argentine authorities have informed the IMF that they will combine their redemption obligations due on 21 and 22 March into a single repurchase due on 31 March 2023, for a total amount equivalent to approximately SDR 2,014 million.” a spokesman said. for the agency he said clarion.
The Government had evaluated the possibility of using the few reserves it has available to settle the deadlines, but finally he winked postpone payments for a few days.
“The government’s decision, which does not require IMF executive board approval, is consistent with IMF rules and with Argentina keeping up to date with its payments to the Fund,” they added from Washington.
At this time, the Ministry of Economy continues to recalculate its next steps for contain new pressures on exchange rates in a context of high inflation, which affects the demand for pesos. In the last few hours the rumor of a possible split in the exchange rate, which generated crossings with the Casa Rosada.
“It is not evaluated for now,” say sources from the Economy, where they hold presidential adviser Antonio Aracre responsible for the speculations.
Close to Sergio Massa, they await the easing of the reserve target by at least $2,000 million. The change was agreed in order to meet the target for the first quarter, starting from the year the Central Bank has sold more than US$ 2,200 million.
But now the quarterly fiscal target it was also in the spotlight. The collapse in export funding deteriorated public finances in February and left that commitment on the verge of default.
“In any case, the main concern is not in achieving the goal, but in the small stock of net reserves (the real firepower of the BCRA to intervene on the foreign exchange market) and the ominous expectations of flows in the coming months. The latter jeopardizes not only the sustainability of the crawling peg, but also the stability of the economic policy framework in which the government is anchored,” Ecolatina said.
Lack of dollars continues to be a major concern for Massa’s team. At the beginning of the week, the Central Bank sold $261 million, the highest daily sale since February 15th. The cause included YPF buys for US$20 million to cancel debtdebt payments from Santa Fe province of US$26 million and LNG imports of US$262 million.
Ahead of the drain in recent weeks, the government has received disbursements of $285 million from a loan from the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and $395 million from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). In the coming days, however, a new tranche of US$ 1,000 million of unlimited availability of the Chinese exchange for the payment of imports and in April the committed US$ 5,000 million would be completed.
“In this way, the government obtains financing from international credit organizations and bilateral financing to finance the constant loss of reserves suffered by the Central Bank. In this scenario, the reissue of the soybean dollar in the coming months is very feasible as a mechanism to strengthen reserves Central Bank sufferers,” reads a Delphos report.
Source: Clarin
