The Director-General of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, announced during a visit to Buenos Aires, Tuesday, that the fund “does not intend at the present time to pressure Argentina” to repay a $ 44 billion loan that the South American state hopes to reschedule.
“We came to Argentina first of all to listen to the authorities and listen to the Argentine people,” Georgieva told CNN.
“We have said very clearly that in this crisis it is important to support companies, and most importantly, to support workers,” she added.
“So we didn’t come here with an idea, well, let’s see how we can reduce spending in these circumstances,” she added.
Argentina hopes to renegotiate the repayment of a loan it obtained from the fund in 2018 under former president Maurizio Macri.
The loan was supposed to be worth $ 57 billion, but President Alberto Fernandez halted spending as soon as he took office in December 2019.
The first installment of this loan will be due in September 2021.
Commenting on Buenos Aires’s desire to renegotiate the scheduling of payments for this loan, the Fund’s General Director said, “We will see how the dialogue will proceed. Aspirations of the Argentine people. “
“In Argentina, we want to be part of a sustainable solution to a situation that has fluctuated for many years between achievements and setbacks,” she added, stressing the Fund’s desire to cooperate with Buenos Aires “with an open mind in search of a way to give Argentina strength, stability and prosperity.”
Since 2018, Argentina has been suffering from an economic recession, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and its repercussions, and the inflation rate in this country has exceeded 40%, while poverty and unemployment rates have increased since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
–
