✅ China rescata a Argentina con intercambio monetario como pago al FMI

Argentina reached an agreement with the Bank of China for an exchange extension of 1.7 billion dollars that will allow it, along with a disbursement from the Latin American Development Bank (CAF), to pay the 2.7 billion dollar maturity to the International Monetary Fund, the government reported on Monday.

The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, said that 20 out of the 21 member countries of the entire Latin American community approved a disbursement of 1 billion dollars that will allow the payment to be made without using the scarce dollar reserves of the country in the central bank.

«I want to assure you, Argentina will not use a single dollar of its reserves to pay today’s maturity,» Massa said in a televised speech.

«Our challenge is to continue protecting reserves within this framework, maintaining the level of activity and imports of intermediate and finished goods that are key to the operation and production of the Argentine economy,» he explained.

Argentina is facing a severe economic crisis, with projected inflation of around 140%, fiscal deficit, and a decline in reserves at its central bank. The dollar shortage worsened this year due to a historic drought that caused losses of around 20 billion dollars.

Last Friday, the country announced that it reached an agreement with the IMF to unlock a disbursement of 7.5 billion dollars as part of the fifth and sixth review of the program for 44 billion dollars.

The agreement, which still needs approval from the organization’s board, relaxes some requirements of the program due to a devastating drought that created a «very challenging» economic situation in Argentina, leading to the non-fulfillment of some financial goals by the end of June.

To combat inflation and sustain peso demand, the IMF demanded that authorities ensure interest rates remain «sufficiently positive in real terms».

On the other hand, it established a more gradual target for accumulating reserves, aiming for around 1 billion dollars by the end of 2023, compared to the previous target of 8 billion set in March.

The IMF also agreed with Argentina to reduce import demand with new taxes on imported goods and strengthen control over spending. The organization maintained the fiscal deficit target of 1.9% for 2023.