MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei holds positive meeting with Georgieva

“We are doing very well,” Milei posted on social media after his encounter with the IMF's Managing Director

Argentine President Javier Milei and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva held a meeting Sunday in Washington DC ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration to discuss the economic situation in the South American country.

For around 75 minutes, Milei and Georgieva reviewed La Libertad Avanza's first year in office and joint plans for the near future, which might include a new loan of around US$ 11 billion to help lift the so-called exchange rate stocks. There are still differences regarding the interest rate and the negative crawling peg, according to Buenos Aires media. An IMF team is due in Buenos Aires shortly because “we want to work quickly on a new program,” Georgieva explained. “Argentina has made tremendous economic progress,” she added.

“It was an excellent meeting in the framework of the tremendous progress Argentina has made, with inflation down, the stabilization of its economy, which has started to grow,” the Bulgarian economist also pointed out. She also claimed that “poverty has gone down” and affirmed that “the Argentine population is beginning to see some benefits” of that progress.

Regarding the impending IMF mission to Buenos Aires, Georgieva admitted: “I believe that the result will be a more dynamic and prosperous Argentina.” She also insisted that time was of the utmost importance because whatever the team drafts needs to be submitted to the IMF's board for approval.

Georgieva also mentioned that she and Milei designed “a roadmap of the economic plan” and said they would continue working on that path. When asked whether she was satisfied with the direction Argentina's economy was taking, she replied, “Definitely.”

“When you look at the data, on all indicators, Argentina is outperforming what we anticipated a couple of months ago. It is surpassing the progress in reducing inflation, so important for people because inflation is a tax and it is a tax that hits the poorest people the hardest. The economy is growing and growing faster than we had anticipated and, very importantly, people support the reforms,” she elaborated.

LLA's policies put Argentina back on track with the IMF but Milei's Government will now need greater flexibility to accumulate reserves alongside stronger social protection reforms, the IMF also warned last week.