This Wednesday, the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), approved a US$700 million loan for our country called “Special Financing for Development” (SDL).
Coinciding with the first day in Washington, United States, of Economy Minister Sergio Massa, due to the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the IDB got all the attention because of the loan granted. Massa tweeted about the bank that the money will enter in the next 48 hours and remarked that it was approved unanimously.
The financing of IDB It is aligned with the objectives of the Fund’s Extended Facilities Agreement, and in this position it is that “it will contribute to strengthening public finances, assist efforts aimed at price stability, and support the strengthening of the balance of payments”.
The loan of entity development has a repayment period of seven years and a grace period of three years. It has an interest rate based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), which is a reference rate in dollars.
In addition, the analysis of a US$500 million PBL (Policy-Based-Lending) loan is pending.
The SDL loans, as well as the PBL, were held up by the bank during the previous months, in part due to the decision to remove the financial organization’s then president, Mauricio Claver-Carone. The president was replaced while the body’s voting process ends, by Reina Mejía Chacón of Honduras.
The loans that Argentina contracted
During the government of Mauricio Macri, the largest debt in the history of loans granted by the IMF was contracted and during the past week the approval was obtained with the addition of waivers or “forgiveness” from the Fund, of the second review by the multilateral organization. This “approval” that was obtained allowed the disbursement of US$3,800 million from the Fund of the US$44,000 million agreed in 2019.
The Government expects to add between the IMF and the IDB, US$5,000 million to the reserves of the Central Bank (BCRA), and in addition US$5,00 million are expected from the IMF that could come in December if the third revision proposed by the organism is approved.
