Lagarde arrives and meets the president in the middle of the "storm"

WASHINGTON.- The formal reason for the visit is a new meeting of the


G-20
but the "storm" that goes through Argentina will be a hot topic. The Director General of


International Monetary Fund
(IMF),


Christine Lagarde
will land today in Buenos Aires and a few hours later, dinner at the villa in Olivos with the President


Mauricio Macri
and the two bishops of his economic team. IMF and government sources confirmed
THE NACION appointment, which will also involve the chief of staff,


Marcos Peña
; the Minister of Finance,


Nicolás Dujovne
and the President of the Central Bank,


Luis Caputo
. Before dinner, Lagarde will have a bilateral meeting with Dujovne

The head of the Fund will arrive in the country accompanied by his number two, David Lipton; the director of the Western Hemisphere, Alejandro Werner, and the leading economist in charge of the follow-up of Argentina, Roberto Cardarelli. Although Lagarde will be going to the country for the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Presidents meeting, this will be the first time since the agreement was approved for $ 50,000 million with the G-20. Argentina as the general manager with his team, amid the race to the economy that forced the Macri government to resort to the agency in search of a financial umbrella.

"The meetings will provide an opportunity to address issues related to the Argentine G20 presidency, as well as the evolution of the world economy and Argentina" said a spokesman for the fund.

Lagarde arrives at a difficult time. The nascent recession and inflation, recorded in June
The highest level of the last two years will be part of Lagarde's conversation with Macri and his business team. The rebound in prices has already begun to complicate the respect of the agreement: in 2019, the government is committed to reducing inflation, which is already close to 30% per year, to 17% . Even if Macri's promise of a "10 points" low next year has been met, the price increase would be greater than the target agreed with the Fund.

The overheated prices will force Caputo to argue with Werner and Cardarelli for the adjustment of monetary policy, according to the letter of agreement with the Fund.

Dujovne and Caputo will have a busy agenda over the weekend, with several working sessions in which the world economy's most pressing problem: the trade war unleashed by Donald Trump's government. Lagarde and Dujovne will give a press conference tomorrow morning. And Sunday afternoon, the director of the IMF will do the same with Caputo.

Today, Mr. Dujovne will meet Swiss Finance Ministers Ueli Maurer and China's Liu Kun. On Saturday, he will meet Nadia María Calviño Santamaría, Flemish Minister of the Economy of Spain, and her Italian counterpart, Giovanni Tria. Sunday will be the turn of the French minister, Bruno Le Maire; his couple from Chile, Felipe Larraín, and the most important meeting, with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Macri will be in all these meetings.

The dollar goes up here and there

The dollar maintained its uptrend yesterday, where it recorded its fifth consecutive advance, and in the region, before the data confirm a firm recovery in the US economy. The note advanced by 4 cents in its retail price (closed at $ 28.36), but 16 cents in its big version (from $ 27.60 to $ 27.76), which implies a devaluation of the peso of 0 , 6%