IMF surcharges: G20 support for Argentina | Ministers and central bank governors asked the IMF to review its policy with debtor countries

Page 12 in Washington, DC

In the framework of the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Twenty to be held this week in Washington, Argentina has found support for one of its main proposals to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The forum, in which Economy Minister Martin Guzman is taking part, asked the multilateral credit organization to review its surcharges. It is a central point in the negotiations that our country is conducting with the credit institution for the loan granted during the government of Mauricio Macri.

In its official statement, the G-20 also called for the creation of a new financing line to “help low-income countries, small developing countries and vulnerable middle-income countries”.

“We thank the IMF for its update on the additional fee policy and look forward to continuing discussion of this issue in the IMF Executive Board in the context of the interim review of prudential balances,” said the document released after the headlines meeting. The G20 Finance and Central Banks Council was also held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Organization and the World Bank in the American capital.

The interest rate surcharge on loans is one of the main points Argentina uses in its talks with the International Monetary Fund, while trying to renegotiate the repayment of nearly $45,000 million in debt that Alberto Fernandez’s government inherited from the administration. the previous.

This week, in a meeting with businessmen, the president referred to the negotiations. On his Twitter account, Fernandez said he told businessmen that it was “essential to achieve the best possible agreement” and that the government’s goal was “to be beneficial to all Argentines”. “We want to reach this agreement as soon as the conditions are met,” he added.

This Wednesday, at a press conference presented in the framework of previous annual meetings, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, said that the organization had not “taken a decision” on the issue of flight attendants, which for Argentina represents an additional cost of about $ 900 million a year. Only in the first four years of the grace period, which Argentina is proposing as part of its new ten-year Extended Facility programme, will the amount of the additional fee reach $3.6 billion.

Georgieva, who was approved this week as head of the International Monetary Fund after being accused of benefiting China in an index while still at the helm of the World Bank, held a meeting on Tuesday with Guzman. The WHO chief said she had a “very good meeting” with the Argentine official and hoped to continue “working closely” to “face Argentina’s challenges in a permanent way and build a more sustainable and inclusive recovery.” According to Georgieva at the conference on Wednesday, the work depends on “finding a path so that Argentina can put in place resolute policies to spur private growth, generate real jobs and focus public spending.”

On Twitter, Guzmán described the meeting with Georgieva as “valuable”. “We hope that his leadership will continue to take steps that will change the ethos of the IMF, leaving behind those shaped by the global financial power that has contributed to a more unequal and insecure world of another that favors sustainable development of peoples.” Posted.

The idea of ​​sustainability was also present at the meeting of the Group of Twenty, which asked the International Monetary Fund to create a new fund to support the stability of the balance of payments, especially given the risk of epidemics and climate change in the future. The headlines in the statement called on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to “work closely together to develop and implement” this financing.

In Washington, Guzman met this Wednesday with the current German Finance Minister, Olaf Schulz, who was just the most voted candidate in the last European country elections to replace Angela Merkel, if he can form a government (if he achieves enough parliamentary support). The meeting was also held with the leader of the German Social Democratic Party within the framework of the G-20 summit of ministers and central bank governors, and was attended by the Director of the Southern Cone region in front of the International Monetary Fund, Sergio Chodos, and the head of the International Affairs Unit in the Arab Republic of Egypt. Ministry of Economy Maya Kolodenko.

This isn’t the first time Guzmán and Scholz have chatted. And they had already met in July in Venice, at another meeting of the Group of Twenty, in which they talked about the Argentine economic scenario and support for German companies investing in the country.

Despite being in the US capital, Guzmán sent a message to the IDEA Symposium held at the Costa Salguero Exhibition Center in Buenos Aires. In his video, he was confident of Argentina’s exchange policy and assured that there would be no “leap of devaluation”.

The minister also insisted on the “essential” role of the state. “It solves issues that the private sector cannot solve on its own and this reflects how we manage the economic issue: betting on infrastructure, generating knowledge, applying knowledge in production,” Guzmán said in his speech.