The President of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce, arrived this Friday morning in the city of Washington to participate in the final stage of the technical negotiations with the IMF for the review of the current program, and in the framework of the meeting that will take place next Monday the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, and the head of the organization, Kristalina Georgieva.
This was confirmed to Télam by sources from the Central Bank, who anticipated that Pesce will remain in the US capital until next Monday.
This Thursday the presentation of the technical meetings of the Argentine team that traveled to Washington with IMF officials concluded, and as of this Friday the “fine negotiations” will take place to reach an agreement with the staff of the Fund next week for the second review of the program , corresponding to the second quarter of 2022.
Almost all of the economic team present in Washington worked intensely during the week with the aim of reaching an agreement next week for the second review, so that the Fund can subsequently raise a “staff agreement”.
This is the technical agreement document that will later have to be analyzed by the Board of Directors which, if it approves the review, will allow the transfer of some US$4.1 billion to be activated at the end of September or the beginning of next October.
The meeting between Massa and Georgieva would aim to crown with the ‘staff agreement’ the culmination of this work of meetings, which had begun much earlier in Buenos Aires with virtual meetings between technicians from both parties, including those from the Central Bank.
These funds will then serve to repair the maturities of the organization and strengthen the reserves.
Official sources stated that, during this weekend, the head of Banco Nación and Massa’s predecessor, Silvina Batakis, will also arrive in Washington to participate in the meeting of the Massa and Georgieva teams.
According to official sources, Batakis would accompany Massa to the meetings with IMF officials scheduled for Monday, and also with David Lipton, the right hand of the number one US Treasury, Janet Yellen.
The Vice Minister of Economy, Gabriel Rubinstein, remains in Washington; the Secretary of the Treasury, Raúl Rigo; the Secretary of Coordination, Leonardo Madcur; the Secretary of Finance, Eduardo Setti; the vice president of the Central Bank, Lisandro Cleri, and the director of the Indec, Marco Lavagna.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royon, who also participated in a section of the meetings with the Fund, traveled to Houston to accompany Minister Sergio Massa in the meetings with businessmen from the energy sector.
