IMF: the arrival of the 10 870 million USD expected by the government could be delayed

Contrary to expectations, the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund could delay by several weeks its final determination of the next disbursement in favor of Argentina, amounting to 10 870 million USD. , as indicated this morning the main spokesman of the IMF, Gerry Rice.

In his usual press conference at the headquarters of the organization in the US capital, Rice pointed out that the board will meet "in the coming weeks" to discuss the Argentine case, in which the final approval of the third revision of the agreement is pending to be listening with Argentina. The meeting had been estimated – despite the fact that a date was never specified – that it would take place before the end of the month. Local authorities have always talked about these deadlines. This calendar seems to be stretched.

"We hope it will be soon, in the coming weeks," Rice said to the question of when the meeting would be held. board. However, he said that the process is following its usual course of internal consultation. "We are on a schedule standard"he said.

When we ask a question Infobae the spokesman of the Fund also He insisted that further cuts in public spending would be needed to achieve the official target of the zero primary deficit, as the Fund had already observed this week, although he maintains that this is not the case. not a new requirement. "This is not a new order," he said. "This is in line with the authorities' goal of achieving balance," he added.

He also pointed out that a "very important" correction of macroeconomic imbalances is underway.

The spokesman for the Fund spoke only three days after the agency issued a statement in which it announced the technical approval of the third review of the program. to be listening signed with the government. The team led by Roberto Cardarelli, Head of Mission for Argentina, was in Buenos Aires between the end of February and the beginning of this month, examining the public accounts and advances of the economic plan in meetings with officials of the Treasury and the Central bank.

Rice announced today that in the coming weeks, the outcome of this review will be presented to the board of directors of the multilateral organization, which has the final word. With this approval, the IMF will make a new disbursement of $ 10,870 million, the largest of which the Macri government will receive during the election year.

Some of this money, depending on the week Nicolás Dujovne during an interview with Infobae and other Argentine media in Washington, he will be replaced by pesos to cover budget needs, with daily sales of $ 60 million. The announcement resulted in a temporary truce on the foreign exchange market.

The Fund's statement also said Monday that the government could increase the resources allocated to social badistance from 0.2% to 0.3% of GDP, which equates to about 20,000 million pesos.

In this regard, the IMF pointed to the continued weakness of the Argentine economy and the need "to mitigate the social impact" of the measures put in place to achieve the objectives set out in the agreement with the Fund. That is to say, achieve this year, in the middle of the electoral process, the primary budget balance.

However, in another paragraph, the IMF warned that this goal would require additional adjustment. "The authorities have reached their target of 2018 primary deficit, showing their determination to eliminate the vulnerability related to Argentina's fiscal imbalance, and achieve a zero primary deficit in 2019 will require a greater restriction of public spending," says the press release. , which gathered statements attributed to the Italian Cardarelli. This idea was again present at the press conference today.