Washington, May 13 (EFECOM).- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced this Monday that it has reached an agreement with the Argentine authorities on the eighth review of the debt financing program, for which 800 million dollars will be disbursed ( 740 million euros).
“Based on better-than-expected results, all performance criteria have been met and policy understandings reached to further reduce inflation, replenish international reserves, support the recovery, and keep the program firmly on track,” the IMF noted. it’s a statement.
The agreement will now have to go through a formal procedure and must be approved by the IMF executive board in the coming weeks. At that time, Argentina will receive the 800 million dollars, according to the disbursement schedule.
In March 2022, the then Government of the Peronist Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) signed an agreement with the IMF to refinance loans for about 45,000 million dollars that the organization had granted to Argentina in 2018, during the presidency of the conservative Mauricio Macri ( 2015-2019).
The agreement includes quarterly reviews on the level of compliance with demanding goals in terms of fiscal discipline, accumulation of monetary reserves and limits on monetary issuance.
A month earlier, the seventh review had been agreed upon, which allowed the disbursement of 4.7 billion dollars, the first under the mandate of the current Argentine president, the ultra-liberal Javier Milei.
The approval for new disbursements to Argentina by the organization depends on the fulfillment of these goals and the approval of each review, funds that, in turn, the South American country applies to cancel its debt with the entity, which amounted to 40,899 million. of dollars at the end of 2023.
The eighth review corresponds to the first quarter of this year, a period marked entirely by the drastic change in economic policy in Argentina after the arrival of Milei to the presidency last December and the implementation of a severe adjustment plan to recover this year the fiscal surplus.
“Despite inheriting a highly complex economic and social situation, the firm implementation of the authorities’ stabilization plan has made it possible to move faster than expected in reestablishing macroeconomic stability and firmly redirecting the program,” the IMF notes.
Among the “most notable” results of this quarter, adds the institution, is that the first quarterly fiscal surplus has been achieved in 16 years, the rapid fall in inflation, the change in trend of international reserves and a sharp reduction in the sovereign risk.
According to official sources of the Argentine Government, the fiscal surplus accumulated in the first quarter was 3.8 trillion pesos (4,243 million dollars), equivalent to 0.6% of GDP.
Meanwhile, the accumulated financial result (after paying interest on the debt) was positive at 1.13 trillion pesos, equivalent to 0.2% of GDP.
In the first quarter of the year, the international reserves of the Argentine Central Bank grew by 4,054 million dollars, to 27,127 million dollars.
Last February, the IMF board extended the agreement with Argentina until December 31, 2024 and recalibrated the planned disbursements within the resource allocation of the current program, and a month earlier the seventh review had been approved.
Last April, the director of the Fund’s Western Hemisphere Department, Rodrigo Valdés, said that Argentina was meeting the goals required by the multilateral institution for the disbursement of funds from its debt agreement.
Valdés then indicated that the preliminary information available to the IMF “also suggests that the key objectives of the program until March were met with important margins.” EFECOM
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