What will happen to the agreement with the IMF?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) must approve a disbursement of 5.4 billion US dollars in the coming weeks under the stand-by credit approved last year for Argentina.

Agency officials plan to arrive in the country to face a new examination of the local economy and then to decide on disbursement. They were supposed to arrive on Tuesday, but that could be suspended for two weeks.

IMF spokespersons consulted by this media on Monday chose not to comment. "When we have something to communicate, we will do it," they said, doubting whether the mission came to the country or not.

Claudio Loser, an Argentinian economist and former IMF director for the Western Hemisphere, said Monday that "although it is still possible that disbursements may be suspended," he does not believe that this is "reduced to the moment".

And economist Juan Carlos de Pablo went further and said that the next president, whoever he may be, could be forced not only to renegotiate the loan, but also to ask for more money for the bankruptcy scenario. 'Argentina.

The loser said the market reaction after knowing the outcome of the primary elections had responded that "uncertainty about economic policies to follow" had increased after December 10th.

Speaking to Futurock Radio, Loser said that the scale of the measures taken by the national government after the electoral defeat "is not big enough to derail the IMF program."

In this scenario, he said that the resignation of Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne caused more and more uncertainty in relations with the IMF and said: "I do not believe that the change of Minister Lacunza be the luckiest. "

The Argentine economist based in the United States said that if Alberto Fernández was elected president, "there will be no romantic relationship with the IMF, but it can be a very reasonable relationship".

For his part, De Pablo said today that anyone who would badume the presidency of December 10 "would have a very complicated agenda" because of the economic problems left by the current government and of what had been inherited from the leadership Cristina Kirchner and Macri.

"We are in a complex technical vacuum. There is an acting president whose power is relative and someone (Alberto Fernández) who sees that it is not necessary to define it, "said De Pablo.

The economist felt, in dialogue with Continental Radio, that "the big discussion" with the IMF was not to renegotiate what they had already agreed to lend to Argentina, but to see if the agency would continue to lend to the country and how fast.

"Alberto Fernández must be made aware: if you win the elections, you must submit a good idea to tell the Fund to lend you an additional $ 50 million, it's a flower of challenge," said De Pablo .

Arnaldo Bocco, former director of the Central Bank and current advisor to Alberto Fernández, said the appointed Finance Minister, Hernán Lacunza, "must prove to the Monetary Fund that he has validated the wrong decisions".

Bocco said that Lacunza's "big challenge" is to bring "some peace of mind" to both the financial market – to avoid a new wave – and to the people, so that social demands imposed on the management of Macri are not increased.

The opposition economist argued that the national government should act in such a way as to avoid any risk for the multilateral agency to make the promised disbursements, since a contrary view could further complicate the country's external front.