The World Bank Board of Directors approved a US$ 300 million loan to expand and improve water and sanitation services in Metropolitan Buenos Aires, particularly in the most vulnerable areas. An additional US$ 120 million will be available for the construction of social housing, benefiting nearly 10,000 inhabitants of Buenos Aires Province.
By Arturo Porzecanski (*) The following was published in the Americas Quarterly, a contribution from a leading emerging-market economist writes. The seeds for the latest chapter in Argentina’s long history of confrontations with the International Monetary Fund were planted about a year ago, on the eve of the global pandemic.
Creditors have criticized the current Argentine government of the country for what it describes as erratic economic policies claiming they are impeding growth and weighing on bond prices five months after the government restructured some US$ 65 billion in foreign bonds.
Argentina’s powerful vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her allies in the leftwing administration want to postpone a crucial US$ 44bn debt deal with the IMF until the pandemic has eased, officials said, avoiding painful spending cuts before October’s midterm elections.
Argentina is planning to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a new restructuring program by May, an ambitious timeline according to the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Director Alejandro Werner.
President Alberto Fernández believes the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should grant Argentina more “flexible” terms on the repayment terms of the debt and warned that increasing inflation could lead his government to again hike export taxes, the president said in an interview on Sunday with newspaper Página/12.
Argentina’s state-managed oil giant expects to avoid a costly default next month after it won support for a debt swap from a large creditor group. The so-called Ad Hoc Bondholder Group, which holds 45% of YPF’s 2021 notes, expressed support for the exchange after the company increased its cash sweetener over the weekend.
The International Monetary Fund expects the pace of its ongoing discussions with Argentine authorities to accelerate in coming weeks, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said on Thursday.
The managing director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, highlighted that “they are working constructively with Argentina” and ratified the commitment so that the country ”has clarity about its medium-term objectives.”
Negotiations between the International Monetary Fund and Argentina over a new IMF loan program are “very fluid and constructive,” with Argentine officials expected to come to Washington in the coming days for more talks, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said on Thursday.