The market is attentive to the possibility that Argentina negotiates a
new program with the International Monetary Fund
that could include fresh funds to accelerate the end of the exchange rate and capital controls.
However, the Minister of Economy,
Luis Caputo, left Brazil to deny
that the Government is currently embarking on these talks.
The Bloomberg
news agency
reported that a senior economics official had assured that they were negotiating with the IMF.
However, Caputo - quick with reflexes - came out almost immediately with a message on the social network X (formerly Twitter) to clarify that this
was "incorrect."
"As I said in my last interview, the Fund is open to exploring a new program, but we are not negotiating anything at the moment," said the minister.
The message was - also almost instantly -
retweeted by President Javier Milei.
Incorrect.
As I said in my last interview, the Fund is open to exploring a new program, but we are not negotiating anything at the moment.
https://t.co/gCYKMscFHw
— totocaputo (@LuisCaputoAR) February 29, 2024
The IMF is putting pressure on Javier Milei's government to
allow the currency to devalue faster
under its so-called "mobile parity" and to keep interest rates above inflation, which is currently around 250%, he added. to Bloomberg the official, who asked not to be identified because these are private conversations.
The Government wants to get rid of the stocks and
more money from the IMF would offer the quickest route
to achieve this.
Caputo is in São Paulo
, Brazil, within the framework of the G20 Economy Ministers' meeting.
On Wednesday he met there with the head of the IMF,
Kristalina Georgieva
, after the previous week the number two of the organization, Gita Gopinath, traveled for the first time to Buenos Aires to closely follow the reforms of the new administration.
"Very good meeting with Kristalina Georgieva and teams at the G20. Celebrate and support the measures and results obtained by this new administration. The teams will continue working on the best strategy to continue supporting the country's efforts," Caputo wrote on Wednesday, in X, after the meeting.
Meanwhile, Georgieva posted: "I welcomed the authorities' sustained efforts to restore stability, support the most vulnerable and generate support for reforms."
Note in progress