The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans to discuss a new loan for Argentina during an informal meeting between its technical team and the executive board that will take place next week in Washington, according to Bloomberg, citing sources close to the matter.
The international news agency estimated that the amount of the new agreement with the country would be 20 billion dollars, a figure higher than initially expected by the market.
The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, represents an important step toward a staff-level agreement for a new program with Argentina.
According to the sources, the IMF will evaluate an extended facilities agreement for four years, with an approximate amount of 15 billion special drawing rights (SDR), which is equivalent to about 20 billion dollars. However, they warned that the final figure could be adjusted after discussions with board members.
Javier Milei, presidente de Argentina.
In these informal meetings, the Fund's technical staff usually presents the board with a report on the state of negotiations with the country requesting assistance. Generally, the next step is the signing of a technical agreement that is then submitted for formal approval by the multilateral organization's board.
The informal meeting takes place after the Chamber of Deputies approved the decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) promoted by President Javier Milei, which supports a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
With the legislative part of the negotiation solved this week, the Government now focuses on achieving a technical consensus with the IMF team to reach the end of April, coinciding with the organization's spring meeting in Washington, which Luis "Toto" Caputo and Santiago Bausili will attend. At that time, the process would be close to its final approval.
Javier Milei, presidente de Argentina.
President Javier Milei included in the initial roadmap, proposed by the Minister of Economy, that the agreement should be finalized before the end of the quarter, that is, by the end of April.
Although the total amount of the agreement has not yet been made official, market estimates suggest it could be in a range between 20 and 25 billion dollars.
This financing would cover the renewal of existing debt maturities (about USD 14 billion just for capital refinancing), in addition to a portion of new debt to cancel the Non-Transferable Letters.
