The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Argentina reached a technical agreement this Friday (07.28.2023) on the fifth and sixth revision of the aid package for the South American country, which paves the disbursement of 7,500 million dollars, in the midst of a “very challenging” situation due to the drought that plagues the South American country. The review will need to be ratified by the Fund’s Executive Board.
Through a statement, the IMF recalled that this is an agreement at “technical staff level” within the framework of the 30-month Extended Facility Facility (EFF) agreement for Argentina, reached in 2022.
That year, the IMF and the Argentine government agreed on a credit program under which the South American country would receive 44 billion dollars over 30 months in exchange for Argentine President Alberto Fernández increasing its international reserves and reducing the fiscal deficit, from 3 percent. percent of the Gross Domestic Product in 2021 to 2.5 percent in 2022, 1.9 percent in 2023 and 0.9 percent in 2024.
“Gives peace of mind”
The agreement of this daywill give Argentina access to around 7.5 billion dollars“, the statement says, but it is subject to the government applying various measures. “A policy package has been agreed to rebuild reserves and improve fiscal sustainability, while protecting critical infrastructure and social spending,” details the financial organization.
To meet the goals set by the IMF it will be necessary “further tightening” of fiscal policy in the second half of this yeartogether with “other agreed measures of income and expenditure”.
The Argentine Economy Minister, Sergio Massa, candidate for the country’s presidency for the center-left Peronist coalition in power, estimated that the agreement is good news for the country, since “it allows us to go through the second part of the year, which obviously marked by the electoral sometimes generates uncertainty or doubts, with much more calm”.
DZC (EFE, AFP)
