The need to resort to the IMF was made clear in the meetings that in July of last year, Guzmán held with the leadership of the Club, and where the Minister of Economy had managed to close a “time bridge”; whereby creditors would wait for the country to finish designing and signing an agreement with the Fund. Meanwhile, the debt with the creditor states grouped in this organization was suspended, pending the closing with the IMF and the confirmation of a new payment schedule with the private ones. Argentina owes the Club some US$2 billion, after subtracting the approximately US$430 million that was paid on July 31 of last year, as part of the agreement signed in June 2021. That cash settlement had been pressure from Japan, one of the creditors, a country that in order to agree to sign the “time bridge”, demanded that there be a goodwill payment by Argentina. In those days, Japan exhibited its bad vibes by posting that China’s payments were not suspended and the Club’s creditors were. Those 2,000 million can eventually be renegotiated in a flexible and almost imperceptible plan, compared to the rest of the debts that the country has. But first, according to the Club’s own organizational structure, there must be an agreement with the IMF. This condition was known to Guzmán from the first moment, and for this reason he negotiated a “time bridge” that would give Argentina air instead of liquidating the expiration of last June of almost US $ 2,450 million.
Guzmán had achieved with this negotiation, unprecedented and the result of direct diplomacy with the heads of state of the creditor countries, that the maturities are extended; but he could not prevent everything from being related to the IMF. On this point, the Paris Club always remained untouched, partly as a pressure mechanism so that the Extended Facilities with the Fund be negotiated and not take longer than necessary; where, on the other hand, the creditors are the same.
The date of March 31 imposed with the Club is not capricious. On March 20, Argentina should face the first and crucial payment of US$4,039 million (3,567 million of capital and some 472 million of interest) that is owed to the IMF for the standby signed during the government of Mauricio Macri in 2018. .
Source: Ambito
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