(Paris) The approval by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of an agreement on the debt of Argentina is a “step forward” for the “macroeconomic stabilization” and the “economic recovery” of the country, has congratulated Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzman on Friday.
Posted at 5:39 p.m.
“This is an important step forward for Argentina in the process of macroeconomic stabilization, which allows the country to continue creating the conditions to be able to continue the strong economic recovery it is experiencing,” Guzman said in Paris. .
The IMF board on Friday approved the agreement reached in early March with Buenos Aires on a program to restructure its debt of nearly 44 billion dollars, the legacy of a record loan contracted in 2018 by the previous government with the monetary institution, which immediately disbursed a tranche of 9.65 billion dollars.
For Mr. Guzman, who met in France with the Paris Club and the International Energy Agency (IEA), the refinancing of the debts of 2018 and 2019 will allow “greater stability” and will stimulate “investment growth” , as well as “the recovery of employment and production”.
The good news from the IMF comes in the context of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which notably caused a rise in fuel prices.
Regarding the promise made to the IMF to reduce the Argentine public deficit from 3% in 2021 to 0.9% of GDP in 2024, the Minister of Economy assured that this would be done “on the basis of economic growth”, giving the example of the last fiscal year.
“In 2021, […] we have succeeded in reducing the public sector primary deficit from 6.4% of GDP in 2020 to 3% of GDP, in the context of an economy that has grown by more than 10%,” he said.
The Argentine Parliament had approved on March 17 the agreement concluded between Buenos Aires and the IMF on the refinancing of the debt of 45 billion dollars.
The first disbursement will allow Argentina to repay a maturity of 2.9 billion dollars by March 31 and to strengthen its international reserves.
On Tuesday, Argentina had already obtained the postponement of a deadline of more than 2 billion dollars from the Paris Club, a group of creditor states specializing in the treatment of payment defaults through the bilateral renegotiation of public debts.