The International Monetary Fund will send a technical team to Buenos Aires next week following an "excellent meeting" between its managing director and President Javier Milei in Washington.
After the talks, Georgieva expressed strong support for the government’s economic reforms and said negotiations over a new funding programme for Argentina are underway.
"Excellent meeting ..., we will be working on a new programme. An IMF team will go to Buenos Aires next week," said the IMF's Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, in a video shared on social media by Argentina’s government.
After the meeting, which took place at a hotel in Washington where Milei is staying ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president, Georgieva also emphasised that Argentina is "recovering with solid prospects for the future."
Highlighting “Argentina's remarkable transformation,” Georgieva used a post on her X account to outline Milei’s economic improvements: “deficit eliminated, inflation reduced, and growth recovering with positive prospects for the future,” she wrote.
“We are working towards a new programme to support a vibrant economy and the prosperity of the Argentine people," said the IMF chief, who praised the “tremendous progress in reducing inflation, stabilising the economy, and reigniting growth."
On Friday, the IMF upgraded its growth projections for Argentina’s economy, forecasting growth of five percent for both 2025 and 2026 – surpassing the global average of 3.3 percent over the same period.
"We are doing very well!" Milei reacted on social media after the meeting, sharing photos of him and Georgieva smiling.
Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein also joined the talks.
"This relationship with the Fund was unthinkable a year ago. Today there is credibility and trust between both parties, built by unwavering compliance with all commitments," wrote Caputo in a post on X.
New programme
The relationship with the IMF is of vital importance for Milei’s government, which is seeking a new agreement with the multilateral lender.
Argentina has to settle commitments related to its 2018 deal with the IMF, worth around US$44.5 billion. It is also seeking an additional US$11 billion in fresh funding, which Milei says would allow the nation to remove the so-called ‘cepo,’ strict currency controls that limit access to foreign currency.
A timeframe for a new programme has not yet been set, though earlier this year, IMF technicians approved a recent assessment of Argentina's current programme, offering a favourable evaluation of the Milei’s government's economic measures.
According to reports, the IMF wants the Casa Rosada to outline its plan and detail how it intends to remove currency controls.
In the sign-off of its assessment, the IMF noted that "the presence of extensive exchange controls (which will need to be dismantled to alleviate distortions and regain access to capital markets) and the appreciation of the real exchange rate as a result of preserving a slow parity exchange rate, could hinder the continued accumulation of foreign reserves."
Under Milei, inflation in Argentina dropped 94 percentage points last year from 2023 levels, down to 117.8 percent.
The flipside was the consolidation of a deep recession and an 11-point jump in the poverty index in the first half of 2024, with 52.9 percent of the population considered poor. The release of updated data is scheduled for March, though there are indications the situation improved in the second half of last year.
Argentina is currently repaying a US$44.5-billion loan granted by the IMF in 2018, when Caputo was finance minister in then-president Mauricio Macri’s government and Donald Trump was serving his first term as president in the United States.
Milei is in the United States to participate in Trump's inauguration for his second term, which will take place this Monday. Argentina’s President will attend a religious service at St. John's Church and then witness the swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol.
The La Libertad Avanza leader is in Washington at Trump's personal invitation. In a post on social media on Sunday, Milei’s Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni played up the importance of the visit.
"Not long ago, our global references were [left-wing leaders] Fidel Castro, Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez, and this turning of the page in international matters led by Milei is summarised by being one of the few leaders attending the inauguration. These are the winds of freedom felt in every corner of the world," he said, referencing the number of leaders from the new ‘global right’ that have been invited by Trump.
Trip to Davos
On Tuesday, Milei will depart for the Swiss city of Davos, arriving on Wednesday, to participate in the World Economic Forum.
His second visit to the event, Milei will deliver a 30-minute speech on Thursday and seek to capture the attention of major global investors. Casa Rosada sources expect Argentina's president to be the most listened-to speaker of the entire summit.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Milei is due to be interviewed by Bloomberg and meet with Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey. He will also receive a prize from a liberal institute.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
