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Washington headquarters of the International Monetary Fund.
The International Monetary Fund will meet next Friday to discuss Argentina’s request for a debt agreement, Gerry Rice, spokesman for the agency, said in a statement on Saturday (03.19.2022). “To give time to contemplate rapidly changing world events, including the war in Ukraine, the IMF Executive Board will meet on Friday, March 25, to discuss Argentina’s request for a Fund-supported program,” he announced.
Argentina’s Senate on Thursday voted on a deal on the country’s $45 billion debt to the IMF, turning the deal into law and ensuring the economically hard-hit country can avoid another chaotic default.
The deal still needs to be approved by the IMF board, but Rice said “legislative approval is an important signal that Argentina is committed to policies that will foster more sustainable and inclusive growth.” In addition, he announced that Argentina’s payment obligations due on March 21 and 22 (for a total amount of 20,014 million Special Drawing Rights, SDR) are postponed until March 31.
The Argentine Government trusts that the IMF will give the final endorsement to the agreement reached with the agency to refinance the millionaire loan granted to the country in 2018. The loan was signed during the Mauricio Macri government (2015-2019), which initially was amounted to some 56,000 million dollars but of which little more than 44,000 were finally disbursed.
lgc (rtr/efe)