Crossroads of versions on a new government agreement with the IMF

The market is alert to the possibility of Argentina trading a new program with the International Monetary Fund which could include new funds to accelerate the end of exchange rate and capital controls. However, the Minister of Economy Luis Caputo left Brazil to deny that the government is currently initiating such talks.

The news agency Bloomberg they reported that a senior economic official had assured them that they were negotiating with the IMF. But Caputo, quick to react, came out almost immediately with a message on the social network It was wrong.”

“As I said in my last interview, the Fund is open to exploring a new programme, but we are not negotiating anything at the moment,” the minister said. The message was – also almost instantaneous – retweeted by president Javier Milei.

With the first version of Bloomberg, Argentine dollar debt bonds jumped to 2%but then it cut gains and was trading around 1%.

The IMF puts pressure on Javier Milei’s government which allows the currency to devalue more quickly within the so-called “rolling parity” and to keep interest rates above inflation, which is currently around 250%, the official added to Bloomberg, who asked not to be identified because the conversations involved private.

The government wants to get rid of the shares and More IMF funds would offer the quickest route to do it.

Caputo is in San Pablo, Brazil, in the framework of the meeting of G20 Economy Ministers. On Wednesday he met with the head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgievaafter the previous week the organisation’s number two, Gita Gopinath, had gone to Buenos Aires for the first time to closely follow the new administration’s reforms.

“Excellent meeting with Kristalina Georgieva and the G20 teams. We celebrate and support the measures and results achieved by this new administration. The teams will continue to work on the best strategy to continue supporting the country’s efforts,” Caputo wrote on Wednesday on after the meeting.

Meanwhile, Georgieva wrote: “I welcomed the authorities’ sustained efforts to restore stability, support the most vulnerable and generate support for reforms.”

Last week, after the meeting with Gopinath, Caputo said this the Fund would be open to the possibility of pursuing a new agreementbecause the version of the request for fresh funds was already circulating.

Manuel Adorni, spokesperson for the presidency, clarified this at the time “Argentina has not made any requests in this regard. But any issue can be discussed calmly.”