The IMF highlighted the drop in country risk and stated that the decision to return to the market depends on Milei and Caputo

In her usual press conference in Washington, the director of the Communications Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Julie Kozak, spoke of very favorable signals from the financial markets by validating recent improvements in Argentine debt indicators.

Despite the strong support for the macroeconomic direction, The international organization preferred not to put pressure on deadlines and made it clear that the strategic buttons for the return to the international credit markets It is managed exclusively by Javier Milei and Luis Caputo.

“Argentina continues to achieve important progress in restoring macroeconomic stability, strengthening the country’s resilience, its economic resilience and the creation of a more open and efficient economy,” Kozak remarked when asked by the press about the official financing strategy. In that sense, he highlighted that “growth continued, Inflation is falling, international reserves are being rebuilt and financing conditions continued to improve for Argentina.”

Asked about the Government’s strategy of seeking alternative sources of financing before rushing to exit the international debt markets, Kozack highlighted: “The spreads (rate difference with the US) sovereigns were significantly reduced in Argentina. They are now below 450 basis points. Market sentiment towards Argentina became more favorable, and this reflects the rating improvements by two credit risk agencies,” Kozak explained.

However, the most political definition of the message came when he was asked if Argentina was forced to seek external financing this year. The IMF chose to respect the autonomy of the local economic team: “Decisions regarding the timing and conditions of market access are, ultimately, decisions that must be made by the authorities,” it emphatically emphasized.

In line with the economic driving roadmap, the spokesperson supported the official priority of accumulating dollars to strengthen the balance sheet of the Central Bank before taking any false step. “We welcome the continued efforts that authorities are making to strengthen their external margins and preserve policy credibility. And that, ultimately, will help support lasting access to both domestic and international capital markets over time for Argentina,” he noted.

On this point, Kozack assured that the organization works “closely” with other multilateral organizations, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank: “We recognize the key catalytic role that international financial institutions and multilateral development banks can play to support the countries’ financing strategies and their reform agendas,” said the official, while remarking: “We are very confident in the authorities’ commitment to continue supporting efforts to strengthen the durability of their fiscal anchor”.

Finally, when evaluating the variables of the real economy and the statistical indicators of Indec, Kozak defended the recently sanctioned labor reform, but warned that the changes introduced by this type of deregulation take time. “One of the key objectives of the program is to move towards a more formal labor market… but formalization depends on several different factors. It includes not only macroeconomic results; These factors include the tax and regulatory structure, rigidities in the labor market,” he warned.

Regarding the new legislation approved, he concluded: “The labor reform that was recently implemented is relatively new. It is quite recent, and The effects of these types of reforms take time to emerge. Therefore, the objective of this reform is to support the creation of formal employment and improve the functioning of the labor market, something that we support.”