In early December, the IMF and the Argentine economic team reached an agreement at the technical staff level on the third revision of the program within the Extended Service Agreement of the Fund (SAF). This paved the way for a forthcoming disbursement of US$6,000 million, the agency reported on that occasion in a statement, in which announced the holding of a Board of Directors meeting in December on this matter.
The IMF team was led by Luis Cubeddu, Associate Director of the Western Hemisphere Department; and Ashvin Ahuja, Head of Mission for Argentina; who held face-to-face and virtual meetings with Argentine officials to discuss policies on the third revision of the expanded agreement within the framework of the Expanded Service of the Fund (SAF). On the Argentine side, they were the Vice Minister of Economy, Gabriel Rubinstein; the head of advisers of the Ministry of Economy, Leonardo Madcur; the Finance Secretary, Eduardo Setti; the Undersecretary of the Budget, Raúl Rigo; Y the head of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), Marco Lavagna.
“The technical staff of the IMF and the Argentine authorities reached an agreement at the level of technical staff on an updated macroeconomic framework and associated policies necessary to complete the third review under Argentina’s 30-month SAF agreement,” Cubeddu and Ahuja noted. They explained that “the review focused on assess recent progress in program implementation and in reaching understandings about policies to further strengthen macroeconomic stability within the framework of a more challenging context”.
They also specified that “it was agreed that the key objectives of the program, in particular those related to the primary fiscal deficit and international reserves net, would remain unchanged for the remainder of 2022 and 2023 to continue anchoring policymaking and credibility.” They further pointed out that “There was a discussion about the need for policies to adapt as needed should external and internal risks materialize.
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“Despite the challenges, also a consequence of the war in Ukrainea, all quantitative performance targets were met by the end of September 2022, including the primary fiscal deficit due to strong spending controls and actions to improve the targeting of subsidies and social assistance”, highlighted the Fund’s technicians. They also remarked that “a debt restructuring agreement was recently reached with Paris Club creditors and efforts to mobilize external official financing have intensified.”
“The actions by the new economic team are beginning to bear fruitinflation is moderating (although from high levels) and the trade balance is improvinglargely due to an appropriate slowdown in domestic demand and imports”, the executives highlighted and underlined: “the authorities continue to meet the objectives of the program by the end of 2022”which will be part of the study for the fourth revision, which I would comment on in February 2023.
Source: Ambito
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