“Positive meeting with Nicolás Posse and Luis Caputo, economic advisors to the president-elect Javier Milei”held Gopinath through his account on the social network X when referring to the meeting they held yesterday, in which they also participated Rodrigo Valdes, director of the Department of the Western Hemisphere; Luis Cubeddu, vice principal; Ashvin Ahuja, head of mission and Ben Kelmason, senior resident representative of the organization.
According to the possibility of reformulating the program that the country maintains with the organization, Gopinath He commented that during the meeting They discussed “the complex challenges facing Argentina and plans to urgently strengthen stability.”
At the same time, he stressed that “Our teams will remain closely committed in the coming period” of a new management starting December 10.
Milei confirmed that Caputo will be his Minister of Economy
Milei’s economic team sought to make it clear that there will be a radical change in economic policy with the new management, to reorganize public accounts with fiscal balance within a one-year horizon. They also talked about the maturities that Argentina will face in the coming months, if the current program with the IMF, of around 4 billion dollars from December to March, is maintained.
This morning, back in Argentina, Milei confirmed that Luis Caputo will be his Minister of Economyand that it was he who presented the lines of adjustment that his administration plans for Argentina.
“This work was done by Luis (Caputo) in the meeting with the Treasury and the Monetary Fund”expressed Milei this morning in radio statements.
The IMF is “very interested” in supporting Argentina
He IMF indicated that it is “very interested” in supporting Argentinaand the country could be a candidate to receive financing through the Resilience and Sustainability Trust Fund (RST)As anticipated yesterday by the head of the multilateral organization, Kristalina Georgieva.
In statements to international agencies, Georgieva acknowledged that the organization “is very interested” in helping Argentina through said fund.
Sources from the multilateral organization confirmed to Télam that it is the Resilience and Sustainability Trust Fund (RST).
What is the Resilience and Sustainability Trust Fund?
The RST funds They were launched by the IMF after the coronavirus pandemic, in 2022, to help low- and middle-income countries face challenges related to climate change and other extraordinary events.
The conditions include have an ongoing IMF program who has at least 18 months left, sustainable debt and adequate payment capacity.
The head of the Institute of the Americas and also former director of the IMF Hemisphere Department, Alejandro Werner, considered today that “There is little appetite and little desire in the international community” so that he IMF significantly expand its financing to the country, while questioning the profile of Caputo for the position of Minister of Economy.
“I believe that we should not read too much into these statements. The mission and function of the IMF is to support member countries. I think there is a lot of willingness to help Argentina, whether to redirect the program that the country has today or to put together a new program, but I think that There is little appetite and little desire in the international community to expand its financial exposure to the country“said the former official of the multilateral organization.
Werner estimated that there could be “an extension of disbursements for the next 15 months to prevent Argentina from having to make net payments to the Fund. Today the payments it has to make are greater than the money it will receive from the IMF. I believe that this gap can be closed”he estimated.
In dialogue with Radio con Vos, when asked about Caputo’s appointment, Werner said that the president-elect “has a very clear notion of what he wants to do economically.”
“There are many economic questions in terms of pensions, labor market, public finances, balance of payments that perhaps a person with financial training does not have the best answers. I get the impression that the head of the team is going to be the president and that The Minister of Economy is going to have more of a role in designing financial and debt policy,” the economist concluded.
Werner questioned Caputo’s management as head of the Central Bank (BCRA) in 2018 and the exchange he had, at that time, with the IMF.
Source: Ambito
