08/03/2021 10:05
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 08/03/2021 10:05
The US $ 4,350 million that will arrive this month from the International Monetary Fund, as a result of the approval of the historic global allocation of funds for the pandemic of US $ 650,000 million, will help to
reinforce reserves and
soften the adjustment,
"but in no way it is a material substitute for sound and disciplined macroeconomic policy, "according to an analysis by Goldman Sachs.
Bank analysts say the funds will mean
"a significant difference in the short term
for a group of countries in the region in difficulty, with low reserves or facing demanding external financing requirements, such
as Argentina
, Ecuador and El Salvador."
Special drawing rights (SDRs) will ease binding external liquidity constraints and open "space for
spending
in response to the crisis."
For Argentina in particular, says Goldman Sachs, the US $ 4.35 billion "would represent
a considerable increase of 10% in gross reserves
(and an increase of more than 50% in the stock of unusable net international reserves)."
The increase in reserves "would go a long way toward meeting the scheduled debt service payment in SDR to the IMF
during the second half of 2021."
Argentina's debt service with the Fund for the remainder of this year
amounts to US $ 4,500 million
, of which US $ 3,770 million would be principal payments in two equal installments in September and December.
"The upcoming SDR allocation and the recent Paris Club agreement provide
a valuable bridge
until the authorities agree on a medium-term macro-financial program with the IMF (probably
only after the
November
elections
) that would allow the country to reschedule the large repayments. of debt for the fund in 2022-24 ", assures the financial institution.
This shipment of the SDR
will take place on August 23, after on Monday the shareholders of the IMF
, that is, the treasures of each country (Board of Governors) approved the allocation, which is the largest in the history of the organization.
The IMF communiqué confirming the sending of funds.
In a statement, the IMF clarified on Monday that the distribution of this special fund among the countries that make up the body will be made "in proportion to their current quotas in the institution."
Of the total,
about $ 275 billion will go to emerging market and developing countries.
Before the statement, this Monday the Argentine government
had paid the agency US $ 334 million with reserves from the Central Bank.
The commitment corresponds to interest that expired this Sunday and will be the last one that will demand genuine foreign exchange in the remainder of the year, since from now on the maturities
will be paid with the SDR that will arrive on August 23.
Last week the Central Bank transferred US $ 225 million to the Paris Club, the first of the two installments agreed with these creditors to avoid a default by not paying a debt of US $ 2.4 billion in July.
Reserves closed last month at
US $ 42,582 million
.
The SDR is an
international reserve asset created in 1969 by the IMF
and is used as a unit of account by the Fund and some other international organizations.
Its value comes from a basket of five currencies: the dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen and the British pound.
NE
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