IMF deal will be agreed by mid-April, says Milei

President Javier Milei says that Argentina’s new agreement with the International Monetary Fund will be announced in around a month’s time.

A report by the Bloomberg Línea website, directly quoting the La Libertad Avanza leader, said that Milei gave the answer “mid-April” when consulted as to when a staff-level agreement with the IMF would be sealed.

The estimated timeline comes after Argentina’s lower house of Congress voted in favour of Milei’s emergency executive decree backing a new deal with the IMF, a key legislative step that clears the way for a formal announcement on the details of a future programme.

Lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies voted 129-108 in favour of a new deal, with six abstentions, on Wednesday. That cements the decree into law as decrees only need approval from a single congressional chamber to enter into effect.

No details about the new deal have been published, though the government has confirmed Argentina will receive a grace periods on repayments lasting more than four years.

To date, Milei's economic team has avoided providing details about the IMF deal – if anything, it’s been mixed signals. Despite claiming earlier this month that only the finer details remained, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said this week that the amount of fresh funds the IMF will grant Argentina had not been agreed.

Speculation on Wall Street sees President Milei’s government receiving new disbursements of between US$5 billion and US$20 billion under a new deal.