The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, assured this Monday that The final document of the second review of the program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be ready “in the coming days”, after the presentation of the 2023 Budget in Congress scheduled for next Thursday.
Massa, on the last day of his week-long visit to the United States, held a meeting in the afternoon with the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, who highlighted the commitment of the head of the Treasury Palace “to achieve the goals” of the program agreed between the multilateral organization and Argentina.
“In the next 72 hours the documentation will be finished so that it can be submitted to the board” of the IMF, said Massa when referring to the “staff agreement” that will be submitted to the board of the organization, in which not only the second review of the agreement was addressed, but also the prospects for the current year.
In a press conference offered at the headquarters of the Argentine Embassy in Washington, the minister stressed that “the communiqué (from the IMF) is clear, it talks about finishing the bureaucratic work to issue the staff agreemet”, which “will cause it to be submitted in the next few days” to the board for approval.
Sources from the Ministry of Economy told Télam that After completing the technical review, the contracts of three official documents must be prepared: the one that expresses the Argentine position, another that explains the points of the IMF and, finally, a formal letter of intent where Argentina expresses the request of the next disbursement -for US$ 4.1 billion- to the IMF, after technical approval.
Massa ratified that Argentina is going to “comply with the program agreed with the IMF”, while assuring that “the protection of the most vulnerable sectors is an inalienable task” for the national government.
The minister stated thatThe continuity of the goals will enable “advance both in the disbursement program and in the reimbursement program”.
In this way, he explained that the Government will seek to meet the goals of the agreement (without asking for changes, as the IMF statement emphasizes) and that it will also will comply with the payments planned with the agency, beyond the fact that the disbursements from the agency could arrive after the next due date, scheduled for September 21 and 22, for an amount of US$ 2,600 million.
After the task carried out since last Monday in person with the IMF staff, the economic team left this afternoon to return to Argentina with the conviction that the board of the multilateral organization will approve the second review.
The disbursement from the IMF will arrive in the country after the due date because, after the “staff agreement” is issued, the organization needs to have a number of days before it is dealt with by the Board of Directors.
Massa said it is very possible that the staff agreement, the prerequisite for final board approval of the second review, “It will trigger the confirmation of the closing of the agreement with the Paris Club”.
The minister pointed out that there are advanced negotiations with the forum of creditor countries and that the approval of the IMF is a requirement -unwritten- that is usually taken as a reference to close the negotiations with the Paris Club.
From the economic team they expressed that it was very likely that the week of September 29, days before the IMF Annual Assembly to be held in October, the agreement with the Paris Club may be closed.
Before leaving for Buenos Aires at night, Massa thanked the Argentine delegation that has worked intensely these days in Washington to speed up the times and be able to close an understanding around the second review.
At the press conference, the head of the Palacio de Hacienda also took the opportunity to thank the producers of the countryside who, with their grain sales, helped improve the climate of expectations that is breathed in the IMF and in the United States government regarding the improvement of reserves in Argentina, one of the key goals in the agreement with the agency.
“I want to thank the work of the grain exchanges, collectors, grain companies and the decision of the producers. It is a peace of mind for us because it means that the measure was successful,” the minister said.
For her part, Georgieva, in a press release, said that she “welcomed her strong commitment and drive to achieve the goals of the program” agreed by Argentina with the IMF.
Georgieva, after describing the meeting she had with Massa as “very positive”, pointed out that “our teams will continue the meetings virtually this week with the aim of concluding the staff-level agreement in the coming days”.
As for the times, After the formal approval of the document to submit it to the board of directors, there is a period of at least 15 days from the approval of the “staff agreement” until the agency’s “board” takes the case for its approval.
Based on these terms, Argentine officials estimated that the US$4.1 billion provided for in the program would reach the country after the due dates of September 21 and 22, for US$2.618 million.
???? Excellent work meeting with the aim of continuing to advance in stabilization and the path of fiscal order, accumulation of reserves and development with inclusion. https://t.co/SAxoBa3zhj pic.twitter.com/gRQILt1BT7
– Sergio Massa (@SergioMassa) September 12, 2022
“I congratulated Minister Massa for his appointment and his expanded portfolio, and for the strong steps that he and his economic team have taken to stabilize the markets and reverse a scenario of high volatility,” Georgieva said, referring to the stabilization plan and the new soybean dollar implemented by Massa.
Taking stock of the visit to the US, Massa said that he is leaving “satisfied, but understanding that it is one more step in our responsibilities”, since there is still “an enormous task ahead in the fight against inflation, because we have sectors They still suffer a lot.”
During the day this Monday, the last in Washington, Massa met with the head of the Treasury, Yanet Yellen, and with David Lipton.
In the previous days, the minister developed an intense agenda that included a meeting with officials from the State Department, the White House, private investors and directors of the IDB and the World Bank.
In the meeting with Georgieva, the head of the Treasury Palace was accompanied by the president of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce; by the Secretary of Economic Programming Policy, Gabriel Rubinstein; the chief adviser to the Ministry, Leonardo Madcur; the head of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) and coordinator of relations with the agencies, Marco Lavagna; and the head of Banco Nación, Silvina Batakis.
