The IMF approves the disbursement of another 744 million euros for Argentina
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved this Thursday the eighth review of the agreement with Argentina, which allows a immediate disbursement of approximately 800 million dollars (about 744 million euros) for the country.
The financial organization has indicated in a statement that this disbursement “will support the efforts of the authorities to restore stability and strengthen the external viability of Argentina.”
He total disbursements carried out within the framework of the Fund’s agreement with Argentina amounts to about 41.4 billion dollars.
The IMF stressed that upon completing the review, “the Executive Board considered the program to be firmly on track, with all quantitative performance criteria through the end of March 2024 met within margins.”
Also approved were “non-compliance exemptions for a new exchange restriction and multiple exchange practices in the context of some relaxation of restrictions on dividend payments.”
To maintain the solid progress, according to the IMF, “it is necessary to improve the quality of fiscal adjustmentinitiate steps towards an improved monetary and exchange rate policy framework, implement the structural agenda.”
Likewise, “continue efforts to support the most vulnerable, expand political support and ensure agility in policy formulation.”
The refinancing that Alberto Fernández did
In March 2022, the then Government of Peronist Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) signed an agreement with the IMF to refinance loans for about 45 billion dollars that the organization had granted to Argentina in 2018, during the presidency of the conservative Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).
The pact includes quarterly reviews such as the one now passed on the level of compliance with demanding goals in terms of fiscal discipline, accumulation of monetary reserves and limits on monetary issuance.
The fulfillment of these goals and the approval of each review depends on the approval for new disbursements to Argentina by the organization, funds that, in turn, the South American country uses to cancel its debt with the entity, which amounted to 40,899 million dollars at the end of 2023.
On Tuesday, The Argentine Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, announced that he will negotiate with the IMF a new program after the eighth review of the organization: “From there we will begin to negotiate a new program with them,” he said.
The IMF had highlighted in a statement last May that Argentina reached this eighth review with a “stabilization plan” where it was able to achieve “the first quarterly fiscal surplus in sixteen years”a “rapid fall in inflation” and “a sharp reduction in sovereign risk.”
Argentina had passed this last review in Maybut this step had to go through a formal procedure and be approved by the IMF Executive Board, something that took place this Thursday, to receive the 800 million.
This eighth review corresponds to the first quarter of 2024a period marked by the drastic change in economic policy in Argentina after the arrival of Javier Milei to the presidency in December and the implementation of a severe adjustment plan to recover the fiscal surplus this year.
