global economy

Argentina needs ‘credible’ plan to overcome crisis – IMF

Agence France-Presse

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Argentina needs ‘credible’ plan to overcome crisis – IMF

Women carry bags with food portions from a soup kitchen to feed people hit hard by the economic crisis, at the Villa 21-24 shantytown in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 29, 2020. - Argentina's economy contracted 12.6% in the first seven months of 2020 compared to the same period last year, in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the state-run statistics institute INDEC reported Monday. (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP)

AFP

'We are there for Argentina,' says International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva

Faced with daunting economic challenges, Argentina’s government will need the “political determination” to overcome its economic crisis, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday, October 14.

The “top priority ought to be to put in place a credible and comprehensive economic agenda that balances supporting the economy and people in this difficult time,” Georgieva told reporters at the start of the IMF annual meeting.

“We want to be a partner of Argentina. We do count on a political determination to get the country out of what has been historically boom/bust cycles,” she said, adding that policymakers must keep “macroeconomic stability in sight.”

The Washington-based crisis lender on Monday, October 12, said it would send a team to Buenos Aires in mid-November to begin talks on a new loan program for the crisis-battered South American nation.

Even prior to the pandemic, Argentina was facing a severe economic crisis despite massive IMF lending in recent years. 

Buenos Aires is hoping to renegotiate repayments on a $44-billion loan from the IMF in 2018 – a loan originally set to increase to $57 billion, before President Alberto Fernandez halted disbursements when he took office in December 2019. The first repayments are due in September 2021.

“Argentina faces very dramatic challenges. The country is in deep recession, social conditions are worsening, economic imbalances are growing,” Georgieva said. “We are there for Argentina.” – Rappler.com

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