From the headquarters of the IMF, the person in charge of the local case appears all the time, the Venezuelan Luis Cubeddu; while Madcur is accompanied by some of the officials who recently took office at the Treasury, depending on the topic being discussed at that time.
In the last few hours, the Secretary of Finance, Eduardo Setti, answered questions, presented data and defended policies; Lisandro Cleri, Massa’s man at the Central Bank; the new Planning Secretary and Deputy Minister, Gabriel Rubinstein, and the Treasury Secretary, Raúl Rigo. In general, he assures himself, the weather is good and certainly optimistic for the parties. This would confirm the presumption that in the negotiations, at least for the period analyzed (second quarter), there is no intention to kick the board. Neither Argentina wants to break the agreement nor does the IMF demand its unrestricted compliance. Although most of the agreed goals are far from being met.
The idea is to continue throughout the week with virtual communications, and then move on to direct contact in Washington starting next weekend; with the trip of the Argentineans to the North American capital as an outpost of the tour of the United States by Massa himself. Setti, Cleri, Rigo and Rubinstein will appear with the papers under their arms two days before the minister, and the intention of the head of the Treasury Palace is that at the time of the summit with Kristalina Georgieva next week; the final political advance is made to approve the numbers and percentages of the analyzed period. Then it would be the task of the bureaucracy of the international organization so that before September 30 the mission on the second quarter of the year has received the endorsement of the board.
That day the country should receive the almost US$4.5 billion to meet the 2018 standby fee, which according to the Extended Facilities signed in March should be paid with money from this agreement. Sergio Massa will replicate the accounting strategy elaborated by Martín Guzmán and which Silvina Batakis later also proposed to the IMF: to adopt as valid the numbers and percentages elaborated during the era of the ruling party’s Prime Minister of Economy to close the fiscal and monetary accounts for the period January- June; which in theory would be in tune with what was signed with the financial institution to comply with the current Extended Facilities agreement.
Massa will assume as valid and will take as his own management the numbers and percentages of the second half of the year, but always on the assumption of sustaining the commitments negotiated by his predecessor and endorsed by Alberto Fernández, which resulted in the agreement approved by the Board of the body on Last March 25. This was what had been determined between Guzmán and Alberto Fernández first and between the former minister and his successor Silvina Batakis, during the crisis arising from the ejection of the former and the arrival of the latter, on that weekend of almost terminal for the governing coalition.
In almost the only chapter that the parties were able to discuss separately, it was agreed that the Extended Facilities with the IMF would remain in force, and that Guzmán’s strategy for the first half of the year would be defended. Batakis accepted it. And now he also endorses Massa.
Source: Ambito
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