The President held a meeting this Thursday with the deputy managing director of the Monetary Fund, at the Casa Rosada.
The President received the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gita Gopinath, at Casa Rosada
It happened at the end of January. The Chief of Staff Nicolas Posseone of the strong men of the Government, traveled to Washington to personally see the number two of the IMF, Gita Gopinath. In that meeting, the Argentine asked for greater support from the Fund and anticipated that the public accounts for January would close with a financial surplus, something that, Posse thought, should please the organization.
It was the third time they saw each other within 60 days. and in the Argentine delegation they had been in charge of speaking with the United States Treasury Secretary. Twenty-four hours later, the IMF board approved the review that the staff had carried out and released the US$ 4.7 billion that the Government was waiting for.
However, there was something more. At the meeting, Gopinath once again insisted that the Government “conclude” the current program and “join up” a new program in December or at the beginning of 2025. Within this framework, they talked about the “sustainability” of the economic plan in progress and the executive He asked Posse what he considered to be the strong and weak points of the economic plan. that President Milei was carrying out together with Minister Luis Caputo. He posse outlined his ideas on the matter, but In the IMF there was the feeling that there were marked weaknesses in the application of the plan and that, probably, social cooperation in the adjustment that might not occur in reality was being taken for granted.
Perhaps for that reason, and as Ámbito timely reported, the IMF recommended that the Government take special care in affecting broad sectors of society that would be affected by the adjustment underway.
Visiting Buenos Aires: dollar, inflation and rates
During these hours Gita Gopinath visits Argentina. To the meeting with President Milei and Minister Caputo, other meetings will take place. One of them will be with Gerardo Martinezhead of the UOCRA, in his capacity as secretary of international relations of the CGT.
gita gopinath pink house
Telam
The IMF continues to consider that the economic plan may not be sustainable over time. Georgieva herself advanced it in a document in mid-January and Gopinath endorsed it in his meeting with Posse in Washington. Now, one’s own Gopinath visits Argentina to verify to what extent not only the plan, but also the surplus can be sustained. Although the organization has praised the efforts “on all fronts” to address the country’s complex economic situation and even highlighted the aggressive correction of “deficiencies” by the new libertarian Government, especially in fiscal issues, it also assured that the IMF It is of “deep” interest that Argentina protects the most vulnerable population while continuing with its “very bold reforms.”
The fact is that the IMF seems to agree with the Government that the next few months will be the acid test for President Milei starting today, mainly due to the inflationary impact that, discounting a fantastic December and January, would accumulate in the quarter. It is the IMF itself that seems to warn about social sustainability. As has already been said in this column, Georgieva is concerned about the sustainability of the adjustment plan. Paradoxically, the IMF tells the Government to calibrate the adjustment well because, otherwise, there will be no more adjustment. That the game is long. Thus, what for the Government is an attribute (adjusting more than what the IMF requests), for the Fund is a problem to be solved. The IMF is interested in the accumulation of reserves but also that fiscal reforms are based on reforms and not so much on liquefaction. What is relevant, almost key to the whole matter, is that while the Government based its financial surplus on the adjustment for retirees by announcing a meager nominal adjustment in pensions of 27%, the IMF itself and even Gopinath maintain that we must “preserve the real value of pensions and increase social assistance”, which would open complications when it comes to sustaining that fiscal result in February and March.
Source: Ambito
