The head of the Economy and presidential candidate of the ruling party meets with the IMF board with a view to approving a draft for 7,500 million dollars.
The Argentine Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, arrived in Washington, USA, on Tuesday to initiate a key agenda with the aim of giving air to his country’s finances, two months before the presidential elections.
Massa, who is also a candidate for the pro-government Union for the Homeland alliance, has already held meetings with officials from the US Treasury, the World Bank (WB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
After the meetings with the managing director of WB Operations, Anna Bjerde; and with the president of the IDB, Ilan Goldfajn, the Argentine official announced additional financing for Argentina for a total of 1.3 billion dollars.
Key meeting with the IMF
On Wednesday, the candidate for the Presidency for Peronism will have a meeting with the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgievaon a key day for Argentina, since the board of directors of the multilateral credit organization will vote to activate the disbursement of 7.5 billion dollars.
The IMF authorities will meet to decide on the fifth and sixth revisions of the Extended Facilities Agreement (EFF) reached by the technical staff of the organization and officials of the Palace of Finance, on July 28. The Fund officially confirmed that, once the review is completed, if approved, the planned transfer will be released.
It is not ruled out that the disbursement is for a larger amount or that a commitment is reached for a second transfer in the coming months. Massa himself anticipated days ago that the objective was to have access to some 10,000 million dollars.
New economic measures
Upon his return from the US, Massa will announce a battery of economic measures that aim to contain the inflationary escalation that skyrocketed after the recent devaluation of the peso by 20%, a measure “imposed” by the IMF after the August 13 primary election.
“The requirement of the Fund to ask us for a devaluation to meet the objectives of the program it has an inflationary impact and damage people’s pocketswhich we aspire to try to correct with measures that we are going to announce in a very few days,” said the minister.
Among the economic policies prepared by Massa’s team, a fixed sum for employees, credits to stimulate the economy, tax refunds and new agreements with food companies, with the aim that prices do not increase above 5% per month.
In the midst of the controversy that has been generated between merchants and consumers due to the constant increases in the costs of products on the shelves, the Ministry of Economy announced last week the creation of the Price Agreement Negotiation Unit. This program has the purpose of evaluating and agreeing on the price commitments of goods, through agreements with supplier companies and wholesale and retail supermarkets.
In addition, the Casa Rosada will seek keep the value of the official dollar frozen until mid-November, to contain inflation.
Two months after the general elections on October 22, the Argentine government needs to show economic results that have a direct impact in favor of the purchasing power of citizens, which is deteriorating month after month due to the constant increase in prices.
To a large extent, the chances that the ruling party has of entering a possible ballot will depend on this, after having finished third in the primaries on August 13, in which the far-right Javier Milei (La Libertad Avanza) won.
Source: RT
