Argentina Expects Agreement With IMF in the Near Future

The Argentine government expects to seal during the next few days an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to renegotiate the US$ 45 billion debt contracted by the previous government of Mauricio Macri.

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The spokeswoman of the Casa Rosada, Gabriela Cerruti, said at a press conference: “Once the agreement is ready, which we expect to be in the next hours or days, it will be sent to Congress, there will be no secrecy whatsoever”.

At the same time, the Argentine spokeswoman said that President Alberto Fernandez will address the fundamental issues of the agreement in his speech next Tuesday before the Legislative Assembly.

"We reached an understanding by which Argentina does not commit itself to anything that would lower its social or capital spending, its pension or labor reforms, or anything that would imply any kind of adjustment or go against the growth we are having", Cerruti added.

The divergent points between the Casa Rosada and the international organization lie in the way to reduce the fiscal deficit, with the objective of reducing the 2.5 percent of GDP set for 2022 to 0.9 percent in 2024.

In this sense, negotiations became tense after the IMF demanded a greater adjustment in public spending aimed at subsidizing electricity tariffs. 

On the other hand, the conflict in the Ukrainian peninsula influenced the talks between the Government and the financial entity, due to the accelerated increase in the homogeneous goods associated with oil and gas.