The Government achieved this Monday a “considerable progress” in his dealings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)that approved the second technical review of the agreementan instance that was crowned with a meeting in New York between the agency’s managing director, Kristalina Georgievand the president Alberto Fernandez.
After that meeting, Georgieva herself highlighted the “considerable progress” achieved with Argentina and announced that next year a possible modification of the goals will be analyzed so that the country can “benefit as much as possible.”
The director and the president they talked at the Argentine Consulate in New Yorkwithin the framework of the activities that the president develops in that city, where he traveled to participate in the 77th UN General Assembly.
“We must analyze the issue of the goals based on the program, progress and conditions for its implementation, so that Argentina can benefit as much as possible,” said the head of the IMF when asked if there could be a review next year.
The agency’s managing director did not rule out that possibility “to the extent that we better understand Argentina’s performance as of 2023, observing the trajectory of growth and the evolution of inflation, and the elimination of subsidies“.
“All these are aspects that we will take into account”he remarked.
Excellent meeting with President @alferdez in New York City. We welcomed today’s staff level agreement and emphasized the importance of decisive program implementation to fight inflation and strengthen stability for sustainable and inclusive growth for Argentinians pic.twitter.com/L3y3EkVjep
— Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgieva) September 19, 2022
In the national government there was satisfaction with the terms of the meeting and, as Télam learned from official sources, the announcement of the second technical approval of the agreement was released at the initiative of the IMF and not at the request of the Argentine delegation.
Official sources stressed that the IMF confirmed that “there is only one economic program” and that the teams in the portfolio led by Sergio Massa “were very solid”.
At the meeting with Georgieva, the president reiterated his requests for the “problem of the flight attendants“, which are the rates charged by the IMF; a “fairer” distribution of the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) and the start-up of the Resilience and Sustainability Fund.
“The President described how it is impacting the war on food and energy prices, and inflation in generaland put the axis in which the reactions of the economic system point to the demand and not to the offer, when this is a problem of demand”, indicated sources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In this aspect, from the official delegation they objected that the Central Banks of the countries of the world “are going to a scheme of reducing demand with an increase in rates”, when the problem lies in supply.
After the meeting with Fernández, and through her Twitter social network account, Georgieva insisted that it was a “excellent meeting” and redialed the “Importance of the decisive implementation of the program to combat inflation and strengthen stability for the sustainable and inclusive growth of Argentines”.
The official from the multilateral organization tweeted: “Excellent meeting with President @alferdez in New York City. We welcomed today’s staff level agreement and emphasized the importance of decisive program implementation to fight inflation and strengthen stability for sustainable and inclusive growth for Argentinians.”
?? Telam in the United States | President (@alferdez) described as “constructive” the meeting with the head of the IMFhttps://t.co/0pNNk7Vi5R
—Telam Agency (@TelamAgency) September 19, 2022
Similarly, already at the press conference Georgieva had described “excellent” meeting with Fernandez and underlined the “considerable progress” achieved until reaching “an agreement at the technical level”.
“I expressed my appreciation for the very serious way in which Minister Massa, his team, and the Central Bank are addressing the significant challenges of Argentina,” he said at a press conference after the meeting.
Shortly before Fernández’s meeting with Georgieva, the IMF announced that it had approved the second technical review of the extended facilities agreement (EFF) granted to Argentina to refinance the US$44.5 billion debt contracted by the previous administration of Mauricio Macri.
The understanding is subject to the approval of the Executive Board of the IMFwhich is expected to meet in the coming weeks, so that, once this review is completed, Argentina would have access to around US$3.9 billion.
The head of the agency stressed that progress is being made with Argentina in “stabilizing the economy and progress in rebuilding reserves, as well as the attention that has been given to the necessary policies to deal with inflation.”
“The focus is on tackling the factors that trigger the deficit and the energy challenges,” he stated, insisting on the objective of implementing the agreement based on the necessary progress “to deal with inflation and achieve Argentina’s progress in terms of intensifying the economic process and meeting the expectations of the people.
The role of the body, Georgieva said, is “promote macroeconomic and financial stability, and also help the world in a context of growing exogenous shocks”.
He reiterated his “recognition” of the work of Massa, who had met with the organization’s authorities in Washington last week.
The meeting between Georgieva and Fernández began this Monday at 11:30 and lasted about an hour. Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero also participated; the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello, and the Ambassador to the United States, Jorge Arguello, members of the official delegation.
The entourage moved on foot from the Hyatt Park Hotel – where the President is staying – to the Argentine Consulate in New York, located just meters away in lower Manhattan.
Indeed, Arguello highlighted in a subsequent press conference that Georgieva has an “optimistic” view of the progress of the agreement and that she even stressed to the President, just after the meeting began: “We are going well.”
Argüello gave details of Fernández’s tour to the US and was optimistic about the tax agreements
The Argentine ambassador to the United States, Jorge Argüello, said on Monday that September is a “truly intense” month on the bilateral agenda, recounted the details of President Alberto Fernández’s tour -who will hold different meetings in New York today- and considered that surely in a short time it will be possible to “take a leap towards an automatic exchange of financial information” with that country.
The Federal Administration of Public Revenues (Afip) and its North American counterpart, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are working on this exchange and respond to efforts made by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, in a recent visit of several days to the cities Americans from Washington and Houston.
“It has been a truly intense month of September,” the ambassador summed up in statements to Radio 10, referring to the string of trips first by Massa and then by President Fernández to the United States, where he arrived yesterday to participate in the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).
Focusing now on the visit of the Argentine president, who will meet this afternoon with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, at the start of his official agenda in New York, Argüello also remarked that Fernández will meet with the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and other leaders.
Amid the enumeration of the agenda of meetings and dissertations, the diplomat asked to highlight an “important step in the campaign to promote the ESMA space as a World Heritage Site” with the inauguration at the Argentine Consulate of an exhibition on the subject.
“What we have done in terms of human rights in Argentina since the recovery of democracy is an example for the world,” he said.
Asked about the bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, he said that they are “waiting for the right moment” and recalled that the United States “is in an electoral process, because in just over a month they have mid-term elections.”
In this sense, he commented that Biden had to suspend “the quick bilateral meetings with the heads of state” that he planned to hold in the framework of the annual meeting of the UN assembly to make an unforeseen trip to London, on the occasion of the funerals. of Queen Elizabeth II.
“But we are working on it with the peace of mind that the will of the parties is there,” said Argüello.
Finally consulted about the tour that Massa made this month to the United States, he was very satisfied and defined the result as “very positive.”
“New doors have been opened, expectations have been generated regarding the evolution of the Argentine economy,” he said.
And regarding the current status of the Frente de Todos as a coalition, Argüello stressed that during the Economy Minister’s trip to the US, “a very compact government alliance was shown around the design of this new economic plan and the signals that were necessary to issue”.
Finally, he said that “the implementation of the agreement between Afip and its North American counterpart, the IRS, is progressing.”
It is an “exchange of relevant information so that the two countries can apply their tax laws on tax evasion”, which in the words of the ambassador will open “the possibility of taking a leap towards an automatic exchange of information”.
“I don’t think the United States wants to remain in the position of being a refuge for those who seek to evade (taxes) in their respective countries,” Argüello finally exhorted.
