MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine President confident about ongoing negotiations with IMF

All negotiations with the Fund are difficult when one seeks to preserve one's own decisions, Fernández said

Argentine President Alberto Fernández Friday spoke with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to discuss a new understanding ahead of this year's elections, it was reported in Buenos Aires.

The conversation was held as the “blue” (a euphemism for “black market”) dollar reached a new high of AR$ 529 and the Central Bank (BCRA) sold reserves worth US$ 87 million and 732 million yuan, for a consolidated amount of about US$ 197 million. At the end of the week, the BCRA accumulated sales for US$ 223 million and 1,379 million yuan, while this month it has sold US$ 270 million and 7,133 million yuan.

“I am confident that we will reach a new agreement,” Fernández said. The Argentine government is “working at full steam trying” to close the new understanding, he added.

“We are negotiating; all negotiations with the Fund are difficult when one seeks to preserve one's own decisions. I am confident that we will be able to move forward and find the necessary agreements so that we can move forward”, said the President in a radio interview.

“I prefer to let those who are negotiating work and not speak through the media. I don't want to advance anything. This morning I spoke with Kristalina. We exchanged some ideas and I hope we can move forward,” he also pointed out.

Fernández insisted that ”the damned debt contracted by (former President) Mauricio Macri represents an impressive weight for the Argentine economy“. He also recalled that, in addition to the debt burden, there was the drought that deprived Argentina of 20 million dollars and that therefore ”it is a complex issue.“

”[Economy Minister] Sergio [Massa] has a very complex negotiation to deal with because the drought was unexpected, it is an impacting blow for the Argentine economy, it affects the reserves and these are dollars that are no longer consumed in Argentina,“ said Fernandez.

The President also warned that there were opposition leaders who ”are betting that the economic situation will worsen and that there will be a debacle“ leading up to the elections.

”There is a sector of Argentine politics that is concerned about the interests of some and not about the fate of the homeland,” he also said.

In the meantime, a delegation from Argentina's Economy Ministry is in Washington DC discussing with IMF technicians ways to strengthen reserves and improve fiscal sustainability through a reconfiguration of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program.