2023-08-24 14:39:08
Two loans were granted by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on the sidelines of a visit by Economy Minister Sergio Massa to Washington.
The Argentinian government managed to secure two loans for a total of 1.3 billion dollars in order to consolidate its foreign exchange reserves and alleviate the strong pressure on its currency, the Peso. The two loans granted by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) were obtained on the sidelines of a visit by Economy Minister Sergio Massa to Washington.
The funding obtained from the World Bank, for 650 million dollars, will be injected into projects to promote SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and food policy. As for the financing obtained from the IDB (650 million), it will be intended to modernize a dam in the northeast of the country on the Uruguay River, which separates Argentina and Uruguay.
In announcing these two loans from Washington, the Minister of the Economy, quoted by the Telam agency, welcomed that “the process of accumulation of reserves continues without slowing down economic activity”. Massa, however, acknowledged that 2023 was “the most tragic year for the Argentine economy due to the impact of the drought” which caused a shortfall of 20 billion dollars.
The Minister, who is due to meet the Managing Director of the IMF in Washington on Wednesday, expects disbursements from this institution to the tune of 7.5 billion dollars for his country before the end of this year. With a view to achieving the objectives agreed with the IMF in the context of the restructuring of Argentina’s debt, the government is preparing to announce this week a battery of measures relating to “income restructuring” (salaries, pensions and family allowances ), SMEs and exporters.
These measures will come on top of the 22% devaluation of the Argentine Peso carried out last week, the day following the primary elections which gave victory to the ultra-liberal candidate, Javier Milei, credited with 35% of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections scheduled for next October.
Sami Nemli with agencies / Les Inspirations ECO
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