BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentina confirmed on Thursday a disbursement equivalent to 2.7 billion dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while negotiating against the clock changes in the program agreed with the multilateral organization for the refinancing of the 45 billion loan of dollars.
The spokeswoman for the presidency, Gabriela Cerruti, explained at a press conference that the amount corresponding to the second quarter will be paid “with special drawing rights from the treasury (SDR) and partly with freely available yuan.”
“Reserves are not going to be used or the accumulation of reserves of the Central Bank is put at risk,” the official clarified.
This disbursement had been called into question in the midst of the negotiations that the South American country is carrying out with the IMF for a change in the conditions agreed in March 2022 to refinance a loan of 45,000 million dollars granted in 2018.
The government of Alberto Fernández maintains as its main argument that the impact of the worst drought in a century affected grain exports and deprived the country of 20 billion dollars, which in part had to be used for its debt commitments.
With less income from exports, the level of international reserves contracted and affected the Central Bank’s room for maneuver to intervene in the exchange market. The devaluation of the Argentine peso in the last year had an impact on prices and overheated inflation, which in the last three months exceeded 7% per month.
After being made official last Friday as the sole candidate of the ruling party for the October general elections, the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, announced on Tuesday that the negotiations are well advanced and that he hopes to close them in the coming days.
