The IMF will pay $900 million to Argentina and welcomes “the impressive results” of its aid program for the country

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the Argentine government to pay an additional tranche of $900 million from the current aid program, highlighting the economic reforms achieved so far. This payment will only be effective once the agreement has been validated by the Board of Directors of the Fund and would bring to nearly 14 billion dollars the total already paid as part of the 20 billion program planned over four years and signed in April 2025. The Washington-based institution also welcomed the reforms carried out by the government of ultra-liberal Argentine President Javier Milei, which notably made it possible to continue the slowdown in inflation and the restoration of reserves in foreign currencies.

“The program carried out by the authorities with the support of the Fund continues to bring impressive results, despite a complex global environment,” pointed out the IMF in its press release. Budget austerity Visiting Buenos Aires at the end of July, the general director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, had already pointed out "the significant progress made in terms of macroeconomic and financial stability since 2023", the year Javier Milei came to power. Inflation over the last 12 months reached 33.4%, relatively stable for more than a year, but significantly decelerating compared to December 2023, when prices increased by 161% over one year.

But this slowdown came at the cost of drastic budgetary austerity, with a heavy impact on employment, with more than 300,000 jobs lost between private and public, on consumption and activity, apart from mining, hydrocarbons and the agri-food industry. The IMF also revised downwards its growth forecasts for the Argentine economy this year, on the occasion of the publication of its annual report on the world economy (WEO) in mid-October, now expecting 2.1% growth, compared to 3.5% during its previous update, in July.

The IMF forecasts a recovery in growth in the last quarter, and 3.5% for 2027. The Milei government is counting on 4%.

Machine-translated from French