Batakis in Washington: Meet the IMF director and senior US Treasury officials

Economy Minister Silvina Batakis landed in Washington this Sunday and is already preparing for her debut in the US capital with an intense agenda in the midst of a serious crisis in Argentina. She will have two key meetings this Monday: She will first meet with officials from the US Treasury Department and then with the CEO of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva.

The official had planned to be part of the entourage of President Alberto Fernández, who had scheduled a meeting for Tuesday in the White House with Joe Biden, but that summit was left canceled because the 79-year-old Democrat tested positive at Covid last Thursday and remains isolated. For now, it is unknown when that meeting will finally take place in the Oval Office.

Despite the Argentine president’s absence, Batakis has kept his visit to Washington unchanged because he needs to appear in person before key Argentine officials to provide details on the progress of the ill-treated program with the Fund and give a certain sign of calm in the face of rising inflation, rising spending, lack of reserves and uncertainty due to the political crisis in the Frente de Todos.

Batakis arrived at Reagan airport in the US capital around noon along with Deputy Minister Karina Angeletti and were received by Ambassador Jorge Argüello. In the afternoon they held business meetings with the economic and commercial team of the embassy to prepare for the key day of his visit, this Monday.

In the morning, Batakis will go to the Treasury meet David Lipton and other officials from the department headed by Janet Yellen, such as Andy Baukol and Michael Kaplan. Lipton is a key adviser to Yellen on international affairs and knows very well the ins and outs of the Argentine economy because he was Christine Lagarde’s deputy at the IMF when the agency granted Argentina the largest credit in history in 2018.

batak asks for the support of the Treasury for a possible relaxation of the agreement with the Fund, which was signed by his predecessor Martín Guzmán and which seems very complicated to comply with as expected. The United States is the majority partner in the organization and their support is vital to any measure one seeks to implement.

Around noon, Batakis will have another important appointment: he will be seen face to face for the first time with Georgieva, the head of the Fund. The minister will try to convince her that the Fund will be flexible on key issues such as the dollar’s stampede, falling reserves, monetary issues and fiscal balance.

It will show you the numbers to explain it the government’s goal is to achieve the objectives of the program, but that there may be deviations, especially towards the end of the year. The government believes that there will be a recovery of reserves starting in September, when energy imports are reduced.

After the meeting with Georgieva, Batakis will have a business lunch with which they will refine the details Ilan Goldfajn, head of the Western Hemisphere, and the experts who follow the Argentine questionJulie Kozack (who will soon be transferred to the European department) and Luis Cubeddu, head of mission for Argentina.

Claudio Loser, the Fund’s former director for Latin America, warned of Batakis’s visit it will not be easy. “The meeting with the Fund and the Treasury will be complicated. Ilan Goldfajn will explain clearly because they can’t deviate that much and they have to stick to the schedule. The Fund has lost patience with Argentina and other troubled countries. Obviously Batakis will not be welcomed with open arms, not because it happened to Guzmán but because the situation in Argentina is really very chaotic. At the Treasury you have to see how Lipton handles this. He knows Argentina very well, he has already lost patience with Argentina too many times in his career in the Fund and outside the Fund, so we will have to see what happens. It will not be a pleasant journey for the minister ”.

later on Monday will visit CEO of operations Axel Trotsenburg at the World Bank. On Tuesday, Batakis will hold a series of meetings with investors and analysts from Wall Street is bilateral with the authorities of the companies Google, Chevron, Amazon and General Motors and others with interests in Argentina.