Talks with the IMF continue over the weekend to reach an agreement

The delegation of Argentine officials sent by Massa stay in washingtonand it was not ruled out that today the talks with the organization will continue in the same Embassy in Washington DC, where the host will be Jorge Arguello.

The negotiations in the capital of the United States started last Tuesday with the presence ofl Deputy Minister Gabriel Rubinstein and the Vice President of the Central Bank Lisandro Cleritogether with the director of that entity Jorge Carrera. More reinforcements were added on Thursday morning, when the head of advisers to the Ministry, Leonardo Madcurand the Secretary of the Treasury Raul Rigo.

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It was thought that Massa himself was going to be able to travel over the weekend to close the deal, but The negotiations hardened in the final stretch and the minister’s trip to Washington was left in suspense: “It is not yet known” when Massa’s trip would be to crown the agreement.

In the meantime, the announcement of new measures tending to strengthen reserves and improve fiscal sustainability, which could arrive tomorrow or Monday. Technical details are missing, but the sources assured telam They are still working on new measures.

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Reserves and fiscal sustainability: possible measures

As it turned out, a COUNTRY tax on imports of certain items and the agricultural dollar would rise for certain exports, as a way of meeting the IMF’s request to tend to unify the exchange ratebut without affecting the most vulnerable to the direct impact of a possible devaluation.

He President Alberto Fernandez revealed this Friday that he had a telephone dialogue with IMF head Kristalina Georgievaand affirmed that in the government they are “working at full steam trying to reach an agreement”, while in Washington the negotiations of the delegation of the Treasury Palace with the technicians of the multilateral organization.

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“We are working at full steam trying to reach an agreement. I prefer to let those who are negotiating work and not speak through the media. I do not want to advance anything. This morning I spoke with Kristalina, we exchanged some ideas and I hope we can move forward“, the President said yesterday in statements to Radio Diez.

According to the times that the Government manages, there could be news of a new agreement “the first days of next week or before”, as estimated the Secretary of Industry and Productive Development, Ignacio de Mendigurenin radio statements.

Within this framework, he assured that he is confident that “it will be possible to move forward and find the necessary agreements” with the IMF, and assured that the Minister of Economy and presidential candidate for Union for the Homeland (UxP), Sergio Massais “facing the negotiation with seriousness and a solid team.”

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“We are negotiating. All negotiations with the Fund are difficult when one seeks to preserve their own decisions. I trust that we will be able to move forward and find the necessary agreements and we can move forward,” said the President, noting that Massa is “facing the negotiation seriously and with a solid team.”

In this sense, Massa was at the forefront of the negotiations at all times, and spoke twice in less than a week with the head of the IMF as well as with the Government of USAwhich provided him with support in the negotiations, according to reports in the Economy portfolio.

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IMF: negotiations continue in Washington

Both the delegation and the technicians of the IMF They continued working in Washington to strengthen the Argentine program with the aim of reaching an agreement, official sources and the multilateral organization agreed in the last few hours.

On Thursday afternoon, a spokesman for the IMF confirmed that face-to-face meetings continue with the aim of reaching an agreement, and that discussions are focused “on policies to strengthen reserves and improve fiscal sustainability.

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“Our teams continue to work constructively, in person, with the goal of reaching an agreement on the fifth revision of the program of Argentina supported by the Fund. Discussions remain focused in policies to strengthen reserves and improve fiscal sustainability. We will continue to communicate about the progress of these discussions,” a source from the multilateral organization told Télam.

In the Government they work with a view to reaching an agreement before the end of the monthmoment that was fixed to be able to pay the disbursements with the IMF which expired in July, for $2.7 billion.

The negotiations included a reformulation of goals and an advance of pending disbursements; as there is also talk of an advance of at least US$8.4 billion of the US$10.4 billion that corresponded to disburse during the second semester of 2023.

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The flexibility of the Fund in the reformulation of the goals of the agreement signed in March 2022 and the advancement of disbursements with the IMFwould be closely related to the impact that the drought had on the Argentine economy.

For Fernandez“the cursed debt that (the former president) contracted Mauricio Macri represents an impressive weight for the Argentine economy”, and recalled that the debt burden was added the drought that deprived US$ 20,000 million to Argentina and that therefore “it is a complex issue”.

“We continue working and negotiating, yesterday I was speaking with Sergio until late and he is particularly involved in the negotiation,” said the president, and assured that also reviewed the issue with “European leaders” during his trip to Brusselswithin the framework of the summit between the European Union and the celacand “everyone understood and supported Argentina” in his proposal.

“Sergio has a very complex negotiation because the unexpected has happened to us, which was that drought; it is a shocking blow to the Argentine economy, it affects the reserves and they are dollars that are no longer consumed in Argentina,” said Fernández.