The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, strictly fulfills the objectives of his agenda in the United States whose final goal is the approval of the second review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which will translate into a disbursement of US$ 4,100 million to settle commitments with the same Fund.
For that yesterday he took a key step. Managed to unlock disbursements from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for more than what was planned for this year and that they were not being executed due to the lack of a “cohesive” macroeconomy, as defined by the head of the entity Mauricio Claver-Carone.
Not only did it unlock disbursements, but the good relationship between the two officials that was born from when Claver-Carone was a member of the IMF in the Donald Trump government, relaxed tensions and allowed the announcement of extra flows for Central Bank reserves and for programs specific application.
The delegation highlighted yesterday that the IDB announcement was very well received by the members of the Fund. It is that parallel to the minister’s agenda, the technical team of Economy debates in the IMF offices the numbers of the Argentine economy, the impact of the measures announced by Massa and the fulfillment of the agreement established with the organism.
The IDB’s millions relaxed the atmosphere of the meetings at the Fund’s headquarters. “The meetings go,” one of the attendees pointed out to the building of the body led by Kristalina Georgieva and added: “We work daily and the meetings will continue throughout the week, until Monday when Massa is received by the head of the IMF“.
Total, Massa obtained almost US$ 5,000 million from the IDB for the remainder of the year and for 2023. Of this amount, US$1.2 billion are freely available and will go to the BCRA’s coffers, of which US$500 million will arrive in September. The rest before the end of the year.
Little by little, Massa is adding international reserves, one of the commitments assumed with the IMF.
To this will be added, income product of the soybean dollar. Between Monday and Tuesday, agro-exporters liquidated 1,750,000 tons, which is almost the total of those sold in the month of August, which in foreign currency translates into US$650 million, according to sources from the sector who had promised to reach the US$ $1,000 million in the first 72 hours after the measure was launched. And US$ 5,000 throughout September, the month in which the differential dollar scheme for soybeans and derived by-products will be in force.
The measure meant that yesterday the Central was able to complete a new round of positive balance in the foreign exchange market and buy US$140 million. Since the assumption of Massa, the monetary entity began a phase of buying foreign currency, at first very weak and that deepened this week with the launch of the soybean dollar.
Massa also expects to obtain fresh funds from the meeting he will hold today with World Bank authorities. In the morning you will have a work meeting with Axel van Trotsenburg, Managing Director of World Bank Operations. He will do the same in the work meeting with Alfonso García MoraRegional Vice President for Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
In addition, the investment declarations as a result of the meetings with top-tier companies that were forged by the Argentine ambassador to the United States, Jorge Arguello and Massa’s adviser on international matters, Gustavo Martinez Pandianiadd volume to the numbers that Massa will exhibit at the end of the tour of Washington and Houston where he will meet with the oil companies Chevron, Exxon, Shell and Total.
On Monday, Massa will complete his task in the United States with a meeting with the head of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva and with David LiptonCounselor to the Secretary for International Affairs of the United States Treasury. Before them, the Minister of Economy will commit to meeting the deficit goal of 2.5% of GDP. As a sign of coherence, the current president of Banco Nación and Massa’s predecessor in Economy, Silvina Batakis, will also participate in the meeting.
political agenda
The road map of the political agenda began yesterday with a breakfast with officials from the United States Department of State who make up the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs. During the meeting, in which the Ambassador of the United States in Argentina, Marc Stanley; Deputy Secretary Brian A. Nichols; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ricardo Zúñiga; and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark A. Wells discussed the global food security, energy, protein, and inclusive development agenda.
Zúñiga is an old acquaintance of Sergio Massa, the same as Juan Sebastián González, the special advisor to the president of the United States Joe Biden, with whom he closed the first day of official activities at a dinner at the house of Ambassador Argüello. Marc Stanley, the United States ambassador to Argentina, also participated in the activity.
Budget
While the tour is happening, Sergio Massa continues with the check list of the announcements he made the day he took office as Economy Minister a little over a month ago. “I am complying with each of the announcements made that Wednesday, August 3“, the minister is heard to assure in the different exchanges.
Upon his return, he will announce an energy program and the next day he will send the 2023 Budget to the National Congress in which the projections that have already been scheduled remain unchanged, we will have to wait if the inflation guidelines that are far from the goals are not modified. initials after the July CPI data that showed a fateful 7.4% increase, the highest value in the last 20 years. (Argentine News)
