The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) began today in Buenos Aires. the first of the Javier Milei era. With the aim of renegotiating the conditions of a new agreement after the failure to comply with Sergio Massa, Minister of Economy, during the government of Alberto Fernández, Formal meetings with government technicians began on Friday.
The team that arrived from Washington is led by Luis Cubeddu, deputy director of the organization’s Western Hemisphere department, and Ashvin Ahuja, head of the Argentine mission. And they should remain in Buenos Aires until at least next Monday. A meeting is scheduled that day with Minister Luis Caputo and the Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse.
The first activity of the IMF mission was a meeting this afternoon with Central Bank technicians. On the list of topics to be examined is reserve accumulation and exchange rate management. Despite the agreement signed by Massa last year having established that the Centrale had to close the year with additional reserves 8 billion dollarsthe truth is that 2023 ended with negative net reserves exceeding 10,000 million dollars. This was a consequence partly of the drought which slowed the inflow of foreign currency and also of the previous government’s decision to use the few dollars entering the country to avoid a jump in financial dollars which would have put greater pressure on inflation in the village. in the middle of the election campaign.
Moreover. Issues that the government must discuss with the mission, which could possibly generate a request for some type of waiver in the event of non-compliance, include the fiscal deficit and monetary issuance. The strong adjustment promoted by Milei through the DNU and the omnibus law could partially unblock these conversations and convince the IMF to reopen the wallet.
Argentina faces a commitment to the IMF this month 1.9 billion dollars. The Government’s expectation is to obtain an outlay for these meetings 3.3 billion dollars which remained pending due to failure to meet the objectives set in the agreement.
“It has been agreed with the International Monetary Fund that meetings with the technical groups of the Economy and the Central Bank will begin today and that the meeting with Posse and Caputo will take place, in principle, on Monday,” said a source from economic group. Telam.
The objective of this mission is “reorient the agreement which fell due to failure to meet all the objectives that the previous government had set for itself with the organisation”, Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said this on Thursday in his usual press conference at Government House.
For this year the deadlines with the Fund are around 7.7 billion dollars. It will start next Monday, January 9, where about $1.3 billion will have to be paid, and then another one will come into operation on the 16th, with $650 million. However, Argentina could consolidate these deadlines a single payment at the end of the month, as happened in the past.
In this context, a mechanism for obtaining dollars from the Central Bank to pay debts was launched today. Through a decree in the Official Gazette, the issuing of letters by the 3.2 billion dollars ten years earlier “the closeness of maturities of debt obligations.”
Source: Clarin
