Alberto Fernández asked the IMF that rich countries give those with less income the extra dollars they will receive due to the pandemic

Alberto Fernandez asked the International Monetary Fund to the percentages of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) are distributed – the “IMF currency” – corresponding to central countries among low- and middle-income member countries like Argentina, in the context of the economic and social crisis linked to the coronavirus pandemic. He proposed to “incorporate elements of climate action” into the dollar “transfer” pact.

The president spoke with representatives of the countries that make up the Ibero-American summit, which is meeting this week virtually in Andorra under the slogan “Innovation for sustainable development – Objective 2030”. “We need more ambitious financial measures. It is imperative that initiatives to alleviate and expand the debt suspension initiative be extended to highly vulnerable middle-income countries, ”the President said. “It is imperative to promote new payment horizons and more flexible rates with credit risk taken into account adapted to current circumstances,” the president said today during his speech to the summit.

“With regard to special drawing rights, It is imperative to move forward with the current debate on their transfer to developing countries, incorporating elements of climate action from recipient countries to establish a virtuous relationship between financial assistance and protection of the environment. environment, ”he said.

Thirteen of the nineteen Latin American leaders participated in the plenary, which began with a minute of silence for victims of COVID-19. The presidents of Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Venezuela have been excused.

In March, the government confirmed that IMF will send you USD 4354 million for SDR expansion, a decision taken by the agency to increase the injection of money to its member countries. In 2020, the Minister of the Economy, Martin Guzman, has repeatedly called for the need to inject global liquidity through this mechanism, arguing that it is “essential for countries to cope with the effects of the pandemic and to protect the most vulnerable”. The foreign exchange, which will be delivered unconditionally to Argentina, will be used primarily to give a breathing space to the reserves of the Central Bank, although in some would “go back” to the IMF for payments scheduled for this year.

The objective of the meeting which takes place this week is, in general, the elaboration of a declaration of “consensus around innovation and recovery” in the pandemic. But the part that matters most to Casa Rosada, in the midst of the difficulties of negotiating the external debt with the IMF in an election year and in the context of the severe economic crisis, is that intended for the approval of a program of Action and a series of special statements, including two proposed by Argentina, and one with Spain, on “Access to external funding to fight the COVID-19 pandemic”.

The other central axis of the plenary session of the Ibero-American Summit is access to vaccines for Latin America. In this sense, the president said that the doses and treatments for the coronavirus “have not been distributed equitably” at the international level. The COVAX initiative, although valid, is insufficient and must be strengthened to overcome the difficulties we are experiencing in terms of supplying low and middle income developing countries, ”he said.

In the same vein, the President of Guatemala said on Tuesday, Alejandro Giammattei, claiming that “a small group of countries have all vaccines and a large number of countries do not,” and described the Covax system as a “failure”, referring to the World Organization’s mechanism of health (WHO) for an equitable distribution of vaccines, which suffered delays and delivered only three million doses to Latin America, which has more than 600 million inhabitants. The president of the Spanish government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, announced that his country “will donate vaccines to Latin America as soon as possible”, but without specifying the number of doses.

The Summit was opened by the Head of Government of the Principality of Andorra, Xavier Espot, and the Ibero-American Secretary General, Rebeca Grynspan. Then the Secretary-General of the United Nations will deliver a message, António Guterres. After the reports of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Andorra, Maria ubach, and Grynspan, the heads of state spoke. The Argentine President delivered his speech in third place, preceded by Giammattei and the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader Corona. The summit will end with the transfer of the Pro Tempore Secretariat to the Dominican Republic.

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