IMF returns to the country to check the economy while warning against another "storm"

The International Monetary Fund will visit the country for the third time to carry out its quarterly review of the situation of the Argentine economy. The technical mission will meet officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, who will then report back to the agency's board of directors. the government will receive about 11 billion US dollars more of the financial badistance program.

As in the past, the IMF delegation will be headed by Italian economist Roberto Cardarelli. According to official sources, he will hold talks with Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne, Central Bank President Guido Sandleris, as well as economists and private sector businessmen. do not exclude meetings with the opposition.

The government has agreed with the IMF of a 36-month program providing financial badistance of 56 billion dollars by 2020, of which 28,000 million already paid by Argentina in exchange for the complete elimination of the budget deficit in one year.

The mission is expected to confirm that the fiscal and monetary targets were met last year, so that the IMF board authorizes a disbursement of US $ 11 billion in March, the largest amount for the Treasury since the last year. initial agreement announced in June. past year. According to what has already been advanced by the Treasury, part of these currencies could be sold on the foreign exchange market.

Sources at the Central Bank announced that the IMF will badyze the new limits of the zone of non-intervention of exchange rate policy and the maximum monetization allowed for the purchase of dollars. The government is awaiting the approval of the public accounts with confidence, the Ministry of Finance having reached the target of primary budget deficit of 2.4% of GDP the previous year, which represented a decrease of 1 , 4 point compared to the previous year. 3.8% compared to the previous year, in line with the target set at the IMF.

For its part, the Central Bank also achieved the monetary base targets set by the agency, including that of January, despite the fact that it released some pesos in the market to buy $ 560 million. US.

Beyond the quarterly badessments that the agency will carry out during the duration of the badistance agreement, the IMF already has a delegate full-time Trevor Alleyne, a Jamaican economist working in Buenos Aires, recently left his temporary office at the headquarters of the Central Bank.

Lagarde believes that another storm could come

The agency's executive director, Christine Lagarde, warned that the growth of the global economy "it's slower" than expected and that, combined with other factors, could generate a new "storm" international financial It was a coincidence that this metaphor was chosen by the leaders of the executive to explain the exchange rate crisis that had doubled the value of the dollar and caused an escalation of inflation in 2018

"In a nutshell: we are witnessing a (global) economy that is growing more slowly than expected," said Christine Lagarde at an annual summit on global governance bringing together political and economic decision-makers from around the world in Dubai. Last month, the IMF lowered its global economic growth forecast from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent this year, due to trade tensions, particularly between the United States and China.

Lagarde talked about what he called the "four clouds" who hover over the global economy and warned of a possible "storm". He discussed trade tensions, particularly between China and the United States, the adjustment of rates, uncertainties related to Brexit and the slowdown in the Chinese economy.

According to Lagarde, trade tensions between China and the United States began to affect the global economy. "We have no idea what's going to happen and what we do know is that already starting to have an effect in trade, interest rates and markets, "he added.

He noted that the rate adjustment comes at a time when governments, businesses and households have accumulated "very heavy debts". "When there are too many clouds, it takes a flash to trigger the thunderstorm"warned Lagarde, who asked governments to prepare to avoid protectionism.