President Javier Milei’s government says it is targeting a new loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund within the next two months.
The deal, on top of the record US$44-billion loan awarded to South America's second-biggest economy in 2018, "should be completed in the first four months of the year," Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni told reporters on Wednesday.
“When there are details we will give them to you. If we don't give them to you it is because it [the deal] is not yet closed,” he said.
The spokesman said that any possible agreement would “imply the recapitalisation of the Central Bank” and affirmed that “it would not lead to an increase in debt.”
He added Congress would be consulted about the "viability" of the deal but did not say at what point in the negotiations lawmakers would be given a say.
By law, any new deal must be put to lawmakers.
The IMF and Argentina confirmed in December that they were negotiating a new financing programme.
The previous programme, originally worth US$57 billion, was agreed in 2018 by former president Mauricio Macri. It was renegotiated in March 2022 by Milei’s predecessor in office, Alberto Fernández (2019-2023), but relations with the IMF soured at the end of 2024.
The new deal will refinance Argentina's remaining debt from the US$44.5 billion received by the country over the last six years.
In his state of the nation speech last Saturday marking the beginning of congressional sessions, President Javier Milei said the government and IMF were "making progress" on a new agreement and he would soon ask Congress to back it.
Several domestic media outlets have reported Argentina is looking for a fresh US$10 billion in funding, though reports on Wall Street midweek suggested as much as US$20 billion may be on the table.
Swiss bank UBS speculated in an article this week that the package would include US$8 billion in fresh funds, while the rest would be used to cover principal and interest payments Argentina is due to make during Milei's current term in office.
Analysts forecast that at least 30 percent of this new package would be available in 2025.
Milei, who has earned scorn and praise in equal measure for implementing drastic austerity measures to drive down perennially high inflation and turn a budget surplus, wants the cash to boost the Central Bank's dollar reserves.
The government has not yet indicated when it would remove strict currency and capital controls, known locally as the ‘cepo,’ though Milei has vowed that they will not be in place by the start of next year.
Adorni said Wednesday taht the controls would be lifted “when the conditions are right.”
Last month, Economy Minister Luis Caputo also hinted that a deal would be agreed in the first four months of the year, indicating in an interview that only “the fine print is missing.”
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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