The executive director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, said that
the organization is not negotiating another plan with Argentina,
beyond the one in progress: "At this point we are not discussing a new program," she said regarding the possibility of renegotiating a different agreement that is more in line with the commitments proposed by the new government of Javier Milei.
The official spoke to the press a day after the executive board on Wednesday gave
the green light to the disbursement of US$4.7 billion
corresponding to the seventh review of the agreement, with
strong praise for the libertarian's "ambitious" policies.
In dialogue with news agencies in Washington, Georgieva was consulted about the possibility of replacing the current program – which was agreed during the Alberto Fernández government – with a new one that is more in line with the new president's vision of the economy,
much more more favorable to a harsh fiscal adjustment,
even with greater intensity than the Fund expected.
Georgieva denied that “at this point” they are discussing that issue, “In my opinion,
the Argentine Government correctly decided to resume the existing program
,” she said. And she added that “given the ambition they showed when we discussed the seventh review, it seemed like revision number one.” , because
there is a drastically different approach
," he said in reference to the abrupt turn that the relationship with the Fund took since he took office compared to the previous management.
The Fernández government had been failing to meet goals, but the program was definitively “derailed,” the agency said, with serious macroeconomic distortions in the last months of last year, when the minister and candidate
Sergio Massa launched the “Plan Platita” that exploded all the goals.
When Milei came to government, he quickly began to negotiate the fallen program with new and more ambitious objectives that imply a strong adjustment:
a primary fiscal surplus of 2% of GDP and US$ 10 billion in reserves at the end of the year.
The battered agreement was resurrected and the latest revision was approved.
The idea of a new program to replace the current one is circulating in Washington, but for now the Fund has not moved the pieces in that direction.
Rather,
he prefers to wait
for the current one to end
at the end of the year.
In fact, it took a clear step in that direction by extending on Wednesday the deadline for the last and tenth review (which was agreed for September) until December 31 of this year, a move that was understood to be to give
more time to the management of Milei
under this program so that it can implement its reforms.
The program that is underway was already approved at the time by Congress and now that it is “on track” with more restrictive goals and with promises of drastic changes in energy subsidies, exchange simplification, taxes such as VAT, pensions, labor laws and lifting of the stocks, among others,
the Fund is more comfortable and in “wait and see” mode
: waiting and seeing that the reforms can be implemented with consensus.
They are tired of broken promises.
A new program would need to go through Congress again
, with all the debate and tension that that implies, and it is understood that legislators this year will be busy with more urgent matters.
It does not mean that perhaps the future is not being discussed in the negotiations of the current program.
What Kristalina thinks of Javier Milei
In the end they trust Milei's good intentions and Georgieva spared no praise.
"We fully support the decision to address the problems (inflation, poverty) with more ambition than we have seen in previous years and tell the truth to the people," she declared.
"What I can tell you is that so far we have seen a good team" and
"a very pragmatic president, not ideologically limited"
but rather looking for "ways for the country to get out of this difficulty," she added.
Even Georgieva referred to the decision last week to withdraw the controversial fiscal chapter of the Omnibus law with which she planned to guarantee the zero deficit and which the opposition rejected:
"It was a pragmatic decision, you move towards where you have more consensus,"
she stated .
the official, who assures that the IMF has analyzed its consequences on the established objectives and is "satisfied that there is a contingency plan."
Minister Luis Caputo has said that the goals are maintained, even if the fiscal package is not approved.
"What is very clear is that overcoming this very difficult year will require
more contingency planning
and more agility and adaptability," he stressed.
"There are risks," she warns, because "overcoming a big transformation, the Big Bang change, is never easy."