The Board of Directors of the Monetary Fund will analyze next Wednesday, January 31st the technical agreement reached with Argentina in the framework of the seventh review of the Extended Infrastructure Programme, official sources said this afternoon.
It is expected that at that meeting formal approval will be given by the board of directors to the agreement reached two weeks ago, which will allow the immediate release of the disbursement by the organization of 4.7 billion dollars. This amount It will be used to pay the commitments from December to April with the Fund itself.
On January 10, the Minister of Economy, Luís Caputo, announced that it was possible to “relaunch the extended concessions agreement, which was in disuse, with the International Monetary Fund”, as reported at the time.
The official stressed that it was not “a new agreement.”
From this negotiation Argentina would be able to receive disbursements “to pay the principal maturities corresponding to December, January and April.”
On February 1, the government must cover an interest deadline for 830 million dollars.
Fifteen days ago, Caputo relaunched the program that fell during the government of his predecessor, Sergio Massa, and reached a technical agreement with the IMF, with which he committed to reaching an agreement primary surplus of 2% of GDP and buy $10 billion in reserves in 2024. In exchange for advancing the adjustment plan, “Argentina would have access to nearly $4.7 billion, subject to board approval,” the Fund reported at the time.
Then, in a press conference held at the Palacio de Hacienda, together with the president of the Central Bank, Santiago Bausili, Minister Caputo said that “now the IMF staff will forward the decision to the board with the new objectives subject to the approval of the Board of Administration, with an outlay of 4.7 billion dollars”.
In this context and days after the announcement of the agreement, IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozack, through a press release, underlined that Argentina has begun to apply “an ambitious stabilization plan” and that the organization is confident that Javier Milei’s government will continue to “generate political support” in order to advance the “key aspects” of the Omnibus law being discussed in Congress.
Source: Clarin
