MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Duhalde to meet IMF Director

In a attempt to force the pace of the current Argentina-IMF negotiations, president Eduardo Duhalde announced he has requested meeting IMF Director General, Horst Koheler and the World Bank president, James Wolfensohn.

The meetings would coincide with an all Americas heads of state summit scheduled in Mexico between March 18 and 22nd.

Argentine Finance Minister Jorge Remes Lenicov also met this weekend with US Treasury Under Secretary John Taylor during the annual Interamerican Development Bank assembly held in Brazil.

The Duhalde administration is quiet desperate to reach a quick agreement with the IMF to strengthen the Argentine banking system and get the economy rolling again.

Apparently and according to the Argentine press, the IMF delegation in Buenos Aires, which is expected to remain until mid April, is demanding further cuts in provincial expenditure, and has described the Argentine economic program "inconsistent". The program includes the 2002 budget, a free floating exchange rate and a severe reduction in provincial spending.

Mr. Remes Lenicov publicly indicated that he's only prepared to sign with the IMF "what we can accomplish", adding "we're not going to commit previous mistakes, we're not going to sign what is not achievable as the Argentine government did during the last four years".

The Finance Minister also indicated that until he has guarantees that he can count with 20 billion US dollars from multilateral organizations, he can't let the US dollar float freely in the exchange market and "I can't liberate frozen bank accounts and deposits".

Argentina has requested financial support in four areas: social basic needs; exports; production and rebuilding the banking system.

The Interamerican Development Bank, IDB, and the World Bank have agreed to grant five billion US dollars for "social needs", but it's all conditioned to a long term agreement with the IMF.