In the midst of tensions with the governors over the co-participation funds and Chubut's threat to cut off the supply of oil and gas, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo,
will travel to Brazil on Tuesday night
to participate in the summit of finance ministers and central bankers of the G20, where Argentina complains about the overcharges of the Monetary Fund, explores financing from Europe and seeks trade agreements.
The Secretary of Finance, Pablo Quirno, will travel to San Pablo tonight, since on
Monday and Tuesday there will be the meeting of vice ministers and vice presidents of the Central Banks,
while Caputo and the head of the BCRA, Santiago Bausili, will attend on Wednesday and Thursday the main meeting coordinated by the Brazilian Finance Minister, Fernando Haddad, on global growth, financial stability, prospects and international taxes.
According to
Clarín
, Caputo will hold bilateral meetings and
will meet again with the number two of the IMF, Gita Gopinath
.
The economist left Buenos Aires on Thursday for Brazil to participate in the G20, after meeting last Wednesday with the official and on Thursday with Javier Milei to monitor the progress of the adjustment plan.
"There are several meetings, we do not have details yet
," said sources from the Ministry of Economy.
After his surprise visit to Argentina and the landing of the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, Gopinath highlighted the
"important initial progress"
of the government in advancing a strong fiscal adjustment, but also warned about the
"difficulties"
, for which called for maintaining the real value of pensions and social assistance as well as advancing tax changes, while
ruling out any talk about fresh funds.
Argentina displayed its cards at the G20 during last week's meeting of foreign ministers, in which Diana Mondino proposed that "an expeditious and cost-effective way to bring immediate financial relief to middle-income countries is to
review the IMF surcharges that would allow them to expedite the solution of balance of payments problems
, return to a path of sustained growth and regain access to markets.”
Mondino thus returned to the claim raised at the time by Alberto Fernández, his former Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, and his successor, Sergio Massa.
Due to the increase in the rate, Argentina will have to pay
US$3.28 billion in interest to the organization
this year .
The rate is 4.1%, but the Fund also applies 4 additional points of surcharges to Argentina for exceeding certain limits since Mauricio Macri took out the US$44 billion loan in 2018.
Although the chancellor was in tune with the reforms promoted by Brazil to the multilateral system,
relations with the main trading partner continue to be surrounded by a blanket of uncertainty
since Lula was absent from Milei's inauguration in December, after the leader libertarian threatened in his campaign to break relations with China and the neighboring country and proposed dissolving Mercosur, which is now seeking to
"modernize" and expand.
The G20 summit could be the excuse for the first photo between Caputo and Haddad.
Mondino analyzed on Wednesday with his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieiras, the attraction of Brazilian investments to expand gas transportation, cooperation in science and technology and the waterway tax.
But on the other side of the border, what drew attention in the press was the conflict with the governors and the subsequent statements of the Argentine chancellor.
"Brazil is Argentina's main trading partner, but it doesn't matter to be the main one. As they said:
it doesn't matter to be the best, but to be better than yesterday and not as much as it will be
," Mondino said on Friday at a press conference with Blinken. in Casa Rosada, where the White House official met with Milei, supported the agreement with the Fund and advocated for the elimination of barriers to investment, after previously visiting Lula.
Last year, Argentina exported almost
US$11.8 billion to Brazil and imported more than US$17.3 billion
, resulting in a trade deficit of US$5.5 billion.
To increase exports, the Government seeks to reduce the cost of imports and advance trade agreements.
According to official calculations, Mercosur's external tariff has a steep step on basic inputs of almost 10%, which raises the customs cost on final goods to 20%.
Milei also looks at the European Union, the second destination for Argentine exports and the first investor in the country with
US$56 billion
.
Mondino reviewed last week with her EU counterpart, Josep Borrell Fontelles, the process for Argentina to join the OECD and expressed interest in the European Investment Bank (EIB) extending financing for investments in new lithium projects. and mining, where it competes with the US and China.