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LatinNews Daily - 14 March 2023

In brief: IMF completes fourth Argentina agreement review

* The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced the completion of a fourth review of Argentina’s 30-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement, which was agreed in March. The board’s decision enables an immediate disbursement of around US$5.3bn. IMF deputy director of the Western Hemisphere department, Luis Cubeddu, and mission chief for Argentina, Ashvin Ahuja, stated that “all quantitative performance criteria through end-December 2022 were met with some margin”, including a 2022 primary fiscal deficit of 2.3% of GDP (compared to a target of 2.5%) and an increase in international reserves of US$5.4bn (above the target of US$5bn). However, given a more challenging economic backdrop, particularly the increasingly severe drought facing the country, Cubeddu and Ahuja state that “a stronger policy package” is needed to ensure macroeconomic stability and address rising inflation. In this context, revisions to the reserve targets for 2023 are being requested, including the 2023 net international reserve accumulation target. Argentine authorities remain committed to achieving the primary fiscal deficit of 1.9% of GDP in 2023, keeping direct monetary financing of the fiscal deficit to at most 0.6% of GDP next year, and keeping policy interest rates positive in real terms.

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