IMF backs negotiator who drew Milei’s ire in Argentina aid talks

The head of the International Monetary Fund is standing by her top negotiator as the lender weighs the future of Argentina’s US$44-billion programme after President Javier Milei coyly criticised the official.  

Western Hemisphere Director Rodrigo Valdés is the most senior IMF official leading talks with Milei’s government, which is seeking fresh funding in an eventual new programme. The libertarian president referenced Valdés in a radio interview last month without explicitly naming him, criticising the IMF official’s time as finance minister in Chile from 2015 to 2017, suggesting his economic ideology was too left leaning. 

Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva “has full confidence in Rodrigo Valdés and her entire senior leadership team,” IMF Chief Spokesperson Julie Kozack said Thursday at a press briefing. “Our engagement with the Argentine authorities remains active and constructive.”

Milei is apparently not alone in his opinion of the IMF official. La Nación newspaper also reported that Economy Minister Luis Caputo said at a June cabinet meeting that he hoped to negotiate with other staff instead of Valdés. 

Caputo’s press office declined to comment, pointing to the minister’s comments in a radio interview earlier Thursday in which he said “the relationship with the Fund is excellent” and that “we’re starting to talk about a new agreement for this year.”  

Milei’s criticism showed the wide gap of views on key policy issues between his economic team and IMF staff, which said in June that Argentina had committed to make its currency policy more flexible. Since then, the president has indicated he’ll go in the opposite direction, slowing the pace of the peso’s monthly devaluation. 

Kozack nonetheless applauded Argentina’s austerity efforts, as well as the passage of Milei’s reform package in Congress. 

IMF officials have been removed from Argentina negotiations in the past, but Valdés — who was personally appointed by Georgieva — took up his post a little over a year ago when the current programme review was already well underway. In 2020, one of Valdés' predecessors, Alejandro Werner, stepped back from talks after clashing with Economy Minister Martín Guzmán. Werner retired shortly after his criticism became public. 

Both Georgieva and Milei’s officials are expected to be in Brazil later this month for a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers. Kozack declined to discuss any potential bilateral talks, saying she would provide more information on the managing director’s itinerary at the appropriate time.