The Minister of Economy,
Luis Caputo,
left this Thursday for Punta Cana to participate in the
annual Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB) summit for four days, a space in which he plans to meet with the head of the entity, Illan Goldfajn, White House officials and banks with which Argentina
seeks financing.
Caputo will arrive in the Dominican Republic accompanied by the Secretary of Finance, Pablo Quirno, for the meeting of the CAF board of directors and the annual assembly of said organization.
The officials will participate together with other ministers of Finance, Economy and presidents of Central Banks of the 48 member countries to
debate an expansion of credit
from the largest financial organization in the region.
Within this framework, the minister and his team will meet with former United States senator and
advisor to President Joe Biden, Chris Dodd
, and with the deputy undersecretary of the Treasury of that country,
Michael Kaplan,
an official with whom he has already met. in December during the visit of a mission headed by Jay Shambaugh, the number two in the United States Ministry of Economy, in charge of Janet Yellen.
The word of Yellen and Biden officials will be
key to negotiations with the Monetary Fund
, of which the United States is the main shareholder.
The Secretary of the Treasury met with Caputo 7 days ago within the framework of the G20 in Brazil, where she praised the "important steps" to reduce the fiscal deficit, adjust the exchange rate and combat inflation, and asked to protect the "most vulnerable ".
In Washington, there is concern about the "sustainability" of the adjustment plan.
The deputy director of the Fund, Gita Gopinath, insisted weeks ago during her visit to the country that
the Government must achieve political and social support
as well as advance in the
restitution of the Income tax
, the removal of tax exemptions and
maintain the real value of pensions ,
something that the IMF insisted on again this Thursday.
Caputo and his team will also meet with the president of the IDB and representatives of Croatia, Finland, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, Brazil and Uruguay.
Last week, Goldfajn highlighted the changes implemented by Javier Milei and anticipated that he will send a mission to Argentina to prevent the fiscal adjustment from being "unsustainable" and to work on subsidies and social spending.
The former IMF official met with Milei in December in Buenos Aires, where they talked about the loans granted and
the head of the IDB promised new disbursements
tied to the fulfillment of the goals agreed with the IMF and the progress of the projects with the bank, many of which are to
finance infrastructure and public works
, an activity that is virtually stopped.
According to data from the agency,
the loans approved for Argentina total US$12,207 million,
including water and sanitation projects, transportation, state reform, urban housing, social investment, financial market, agriculture and health.
Data from the Ministry of Economy reflect that
the gross debt of the central administration with the IDB reaches US$ 16,459 million
.
The minister will also hold meetings with authorities from IDB Invest - the investment arm in the private sector -, FONPLATA, the French Development Agency (AFD), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and private banks and investors.
The Government seeks financing from Japan and Europe for investments in lithium and mining
.
Caputo's agenda will include his participation in the joint meeting of the committees of the assemblies of governors of the IDB and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), while Quirno will participate in the second plenary session of IDB Lab, the innovation and capital arm entrepreneur of the organization, and in the special meeting of governors.
During these meetings, Argentina will participate as a shareholder of IDB and CAF to discuss the political and governance agenda of both institutions.
In the first case, the organization proposes to change the strategy to focus on reducing poverty, inequality and climate change;
capitalize IDB Invest;
and triple the resources of the IDB Lab.
NE