The board of directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet on Friday, June 24, to discuss the agreement at the staff level on the first review of the quantitative objectives met by Argentina in the first quarter of the current year, which will allow the green light to be given to the disbursement of 4,100 million dollars.
The Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmánconfirmed, during an interview with Radio Nacional in which Télam participated, that the process implies that the funds will arrive once the board of directors formally approves the audit of the national public accounts, that already passed through the team’s fine pencil who drive the deputy director in the Western Hemisphere Department of the IMF, Julie Kozack and the head of the Argentine mission, Luis Cubeddu.
During the last few weeks, Both managers audited point by point the indicators and goals corresponding to the first quarter of 2022.
“It is estimated that the Board (of the IMF) would be discussing this agreement on June 24. As soon as it is approved, the disbursements arrive. There are no setbacks, it is absolutely standard. All the scheduled times are met,” said Guzmán.
The minister said that in approved audit by the agency’s technical staff, “a procedure that is absolutely standard, basic in the IMF’s functioning, in which the review is completed in a job between the IMF staff and the Argentine government” was followed.
“Then the approval of that agreement between the staff and the Argentine government is made available to the IMF board, which is where the shareholders of the countries are. It is always like this, the disbursement is made after the board approves that agreement. for review,” the minister specified.
Last Wednesday, Argentina and the organization’s staff reached a technical agreement that approved the first review of the current program.
Agency spokesman Gerry Rice confirmed the next day that the Argentina “met all the quantitative goals of the first quarter” of this year, of the program with which he refinanced the US$ 45,000 million of debt contracted in the management of Mauricio Macri.
Rice remarked that it was agreed with the country maintain the guideline of the annual objectives, although he admitted that the “path” of those variables at the quarterly level, and some indicative targets such as inflation, will suffer alterations Regarding what was established in the agreement signed at the end of March, due to the “shock” produced by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“We agreed that annual goals will not be changedis something important for enhance economic stability and recovery,” the spokesman noted.
unchanged goals
Namely, the goals that would remain unchanged are the guideline monetary issue of the Central Bank, related to Central Bank assistance to the Treasury, which must not exceed 1% of GDP; the fiscal deficitthat could not exceed 2.5% of GDP in the year, and the accumulation of reservesthat should grow by at least 5,000 million dollars throughout 2022.
Likewise, Rice specified that the objectives will be “reviewed, in practical terms, every four months to adjust the paths” of the variables that reflect the shock caused by the war in Ukraine.
In this sense, when consulted by eventual changes in fiscal deficit goals and inflation projections, Rice said that due to the “shock that came in seasonal spending and import patterns, quarterly trails for the entire program year will be reviewed to achieve these annual objectives” set out in the agreement.
In practical terms, Rice added, “the quarterly target paths will be adjusted to reflect the impact of the shock (caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine) and the authorities’ commitment to meet the annual targets.”
In relation to inflationthe Monetary Fund spokesman explained that “Like other countries, projections and forecasts were revised.”
Rice clarified that this type of evaluation of the evolution of certain variables “happens regularly in IMF programs”, and explained that it is precisely “for this reason” that the “four-monthly reviews” exist, although “the set of program objectives will remain without changes”.
“Details of those changes will be disclosed in a staff report that will be publicly available after board discussion,” Rice concluded.
