Buenos Aires (EFE)
“There is a very easy formula to reach a quick agreement with the IMF, which is to do and accept what the Fund says. If the agreement with the IMF is being delayed, it is a product of the fact that our negotiators are going to defend the interests of all Argentines,” Rossi said in radio statements.
For several weeks, Argentina has been negotiating with the IMF to introduce changes in the fiscal, monetary and reserve accumulation goals agreed in 2022 and to advance the quarterly disbursements stipulated in the extended facilities agreement, which allowed refinancing debts for 44,000 million dollars.
Complex negotiations with the IMF
This Friday, after speaking with the managing director of the Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, admitted that the negotiations with the organization, led by the Argentine Minister of Economy and presidential candidate, Sergio Massa, were not easy, but he was confident in reaching an understanding.
Argentina, which suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances and, in addition, has suffered during the first half of the year from the effects of a severe drought that had a full impact on its agricultural exports -its main source of income-, has experienced difficulties in meeting the goals agreed with the Fund.
The approval of the quarterly reviews carried out by the IMF depends on the fulfillment of these goals, which is necessary for the organization to transfer to Argentina the disbursements that allow it to pay the debt commitments with the organization itself.
Argentina, with few monetary reserves, must face maturities with the IMF for some 3.4 billion dollars between July 31 and August 1, so the negotiations are against the clock.
Exchange measures in the radas
Rossi, who supports Massa in the main presidential formula of the ruling party ahead of the primary elections in August, did not want to give details about possible exchange measures in the coming days aimed at stopping the outflow of reserves through imports and encouraging the liquidation of exports, to increase the income of dollars.
However, in statements to the AM 750 radio station, the Chief of Staff commented that the loss of foreign exchange earnings this year for 20,000 million dollars as a result of the impact of the drought forces decisions to be made “many times creative”, seeking to “injure the real economy as little as possible”.
“It is clear that, as Sergio Massa has said, our objective as a government is going to be to pay (the IMF) 100% of the debt so that we can carry out economic policy without this IMF intervention, which always ends up being clearly complicated,” he added.