The Executive Directory of the International Monetary Fund met this week to discuss a new Argentina program during an informal session in Washington according to a Bloomberg agency cable.
According to the information “a central discussion theme at Wednesday’s meeting was what part of the 20 billion dollars program would be disbursed immediately.”
There are still no official definitions about it.
The Argentine government seeks to close a new program with the agencies for US $ 20,000 million as confirmed by the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo. IMF loans are generally gradually disbursed over a few years and countries must meet certain reference parameters over time. The Argentine authorities seek that the initial disbursement is exceeding US $ 10,000 million. For now there was talk of US $ 8,000 million corresponding to 40% of the total agreed loan of US $ 20 billion.
“It is a reasonable request. They have earned it given their performance,” Georgieva said during a report provided to the Reuters International Agency about the first disbursement to be US $ 8,000 million.
Milei and Caputo traveled to Florida on Wednesday to attend an event in Mar-A-Lago, hoping to get American political support for Argentina’s request. The Argentine leader returned to Argentina without being able to cross Trump.
The details of the loan that Argentina will take from the international body is not yet known. because the amount must be ratified by the IMF Board. But it transpired that it will be four years.
Milei had signed a decree on March 11 authorizing the negotiation with the IMF. The decree was ratified by Congress a few weeks later. Regarding the use of the loan, officials point out that it will be intended to reinforce the reserves of the Central Bank. Meanwhile, the government is confident that there will be no jumps in the value of the dollar and also that the country risk that closed at 943 points will lower.
The only current program in Argentina with the IMF is the Extended Fund Facity (EFF) of 2022. The stock of this program is currently equivalent to US $ 42,181 million to September 30.
Argentina sealed 22 financing agreements with the IMF with amounts agreed for US $ 239,829 million between 1958 and 2022. Of that total, US $ 182,457 million were disbursed during those almost seventy years.
In the week President Milei met with the head of the World Bank, Ajay Banga. “The World Bank is working closely with President Milei and his team to support his ambitious reform agenda. As a short -term sample of that commitment, we are preparing a significant support package that brings together the entire strength of the World Bank Group to support the reforms, attract private investments and lay the foundations for employment creation,” Banga said after the meeting.