Thursday, March 28

Agreement with IMF is not Stand by and contemplates reimbursement of US$5,000 million paid in 2021


According to Guzman The US$44.5 billion implies financing for all the remaining disbursements, plus what was paid in capital during 2021 and the payment this Friday, for US$731 million.

Along these lines, the minister said that with this agreement there will be “positive net financing above the levels of recent years” and remarked that “without the agreement, financing would be negative.” “By 2022, excluding the IMF and including all official sector financing in foreign currency, it is 0.9% of GDP”, anticipated.

The official detailed the goals set with the Fund so that Argentina can “have a moderately expansive role”, with goals of gradual reduction of the primary deficit. For 2022, the primary deficit was established at 2.5%, for 2023 at 1.9% and for 2024 at 0.9% of the Gross Domestic Product.

Likewise, Guzmán announced that “We will send the project to Congress and the senators and deputies will define their support or their decisions” and said that “once it is approved by Congress and by the Board of the IMF, there will be a first disbursement, and then in each of the reviews there will be a new disbursement.”

There will be a payment schedule defined by the Stand by program sanctioned by the Government that establishes the capital amortization and interest. We are going to have money to pay and accumulate reserves”, he emphasized.

Last year, more than US$5 billion was paid to the IMF, between capital and interest without refinancing, which will now return to the national coffers. The first reimbursement would be for about $4.5 billion.

In this framework, Guzmán asked to differentiate the duration of the programs with the period in which the debts are paid. “Now we have a two-and-a-half-year program, in terms of the economic policy agreement, but later there are expirations that start from the fourth year, 4 and a half years after the sanction of the agreement, and ends 10 years after the first disbursement. The disbursement schedule will be defined when the memorandums are sanctioned and approved by Congress and the board of directors,” he added.



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