The Japan Times - Argentina receives $42 bn from international financial institutions

EUR -
AED 4.105252
AFN 78.797051
ALL 98.893319
AMD 433.749643
ANG 2.00029
AOA 1024.357672
ARS 1257.401991
AUD 1.726388
AWG 2.014619
AZN 1.894575
BAM 1.967649
BBD 2.255714
BDT 135.737404
BGN 1.958856
BHD 0.421283
BIF 3281.510303
BMD 1.117681
BND 1.458201
BOB 7.719591
BRL 6.272418
BSD 1.117243
BTN 95.296148
BWP 15.251571
BYN 3.656166
BYR 21906.540172
BZD 2.244124
CAD 1.559656
CDF 3208.861365
CHF 0.940199
CLF 0.027393
CLP 1051.159719
CNY 8.054398
CNH 8.044461
COP 4708.620804
CRC 567.726442
CUC 1.117681
CUP 29.618536
CVE 110.790095
CZK 24.942161
DJF 198.633856
DKK 7.459515
DOP 65.829876
DZD 149.154865
EGP 56.405322
ERN 16.765209
ETB 148.552518
FJD 2.528748
FKP 0.847332
GBP 0.84049
GEL 3.068057
GGP 0.847332
GHS 14.222485
GIP 0.847332
GMD 80.472573
GNF 9673.526071
GTQ 8.589727
GYD 233.733349
HKD 8.714585
HNL 29.051336
HRK 7.534623
HTG 146.071597
HUF 404.018956
IDR 18575.851922
ILS 3.973953
IMP 0.847332
INR 95.126524
IQD 1463.532969
IRR 47054.354819
ISK 145.667499
JEP 0.847332
JMD 177.981798
JOD 0.792767
JPY 165.002627
KES 144.744858
KGS 97.741511
KHR 4488.605618
KMF 492.340141
KPW 1005.907529
KRW 1580.819534
KWD 0.343385
KYD 0.93099
KZT 567.877027
LAK 24164.25501
LBP 100101.550337
LKR 333.870553
LRD 223.436524
LSL 20.473189
LTL 3.300221
LVL 0.676074
LYD 6.13595
MAD 10.421659
MDL 19.528249
MGA 5050.436086
MKD 61.542104
MMK 2346.553122
MNT 3994.476518
MOP 8.967945
MRU 44.27462
MUR 51.893802
MVR 17.214206
MWK 1937.392892
MXN 21.713176
MYR 4.831172
MZN 71.421162
NAD 20.473465
NGN 1791.004651
NIO 41.107548
NOK 11.577662
NPR 152.468749
NZD 1.882346
OMR 0.430293
PAB 1.117208
PEN 4.084497
PGK 4.639942
PHP 62.334189
PKR 314.600711
PLN 4.233858
PYG 8921.846685
QAR 4.072177
RON 5.103445
RSD 117.931762
RUB 89.254777
RWF 1599.805326
SAR 4.191965
SBD 9.333582
SCR 15.894298
SDG 671.167312
SEK 10.873809
SGD 1.454963
SHP 0.878321
SLE 25.427268
SLL 23437.204022
SOS 638.430318
SRD 40.796462
STD 23133.732267
SVC 9.776002
SYP 14533.551955
SZL 20.467345
THB 37.151287
TJS 11.585057
TMT 3.911882
TND 3.379307
TOP 2.617718
TRY 43.365527
TTD 7.581691
TWD 34.016599
TZS 3003.767623
UAH 46.42962
UGX 4088.676695
USD 1.117681
UYU 46.66099
UZS 14406.756824
VES 103.625748
VND 29016.665443
VUV 134.091698
WST 3.105526
XAF 659.919194
XAG 0.033979
XAU 0.000344
XCD 3.020588
XDR 0.82109
XOF 659.939985
XPF 119.331742
YER 273.217081
ZAR 20.499279
ZMK 10060.468697
ZMW 29.605681
ZWL 359.892704
  • RBGPF

    0.8100

    63.81

    +1.27%

  • CMSC

    -0.0100

    22.07

    -0.05%

  • RIO

    0.8900

    62.3

    +1.43%

  • GSK

    -0.9600

    36.41

    -2.64%

  • RELX

    0.5100

    52.34

    +0.97%

  • SCS

    -0.1000

    10.72

    -0.93%

  • NGG

    -0.1400

    67.39

    -0.21%

  • RYCEF

    0.2900

    10.67

    +2.72%

  • CMSD

    0.0600

    22.36

    +0.27%

  • BTI

    -0.2450

    40.735

    -0.6%

  • BCE

    -0.5150

    22.045

    -2.34%

  • BCC

    0.7800

    93.88

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -1.2300

    67.72

    -1.82%

  • BP

    0.4750

    30.665

    +1.55%

  • JRI

    -0.1250

    12.885

    -0.97%

  • VOD

    -0.0200

    9.05

    -0.22%

Argentina receives $42 bn from international financial institutions
Argentina receives $42 bn from international financial institutions / Photo: DANIEL DUARTE - AFP/File

Argentina receives $42 bn from international financial institutions

Three international financial institutions announced $42 billion in fresh support for financially troubled Argentina on Friday, as its president said his country's economy will grow "like never before."

Text size:

The IMF approved a new four-year $20 billion bailout for the South American nation as the World Bank said it would pump $12 billion into the economy and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced plans for a $10 billion deal.

Some of the cash is expected to flow as soon as next week to help skint Argentina defend its wobbling peso currency, in a political boon for libertarian President Javier Milei's aggressive efforts to revive the nation's fortunes.

"Argentina will be the country with the strongest economic growth for the coming 30 years," the self-styled "anarcho-capitalist" leader said in a TV address, adding that the economy will grow "like never before."

Finance Minister Luis Caputo had earlier said that "within 60 days" Buenos Aires expects to receive $19 billion from the IMF, World Bank and other sources including the IDB.

That figure will include an "immediate" first tranche of $12 billion from the IMF, the institution's board said in a statement.

The program is "a vote of confidence in the Government's determination to advance reforms, foster growth & deliver higher standards of living for the Argentine people," IMF boss Kristalina Georgieva posted on X, hailing Milei's "impressive progress in stabilizing the economy."

For its part, the World Bank said $1.5 billion would be released to Argentina immediately.

- Under-pressure peso -

It is the 23rd time the IMF has bailed out Argentina since it became a member of the Washington-based institution in 1956.

Caputo had earlier said that the IMF money would allow the "recapitalization of the Central Bank... and continue the disinflation process."

It would also, starting Monday, "allow us to end the exchange controls that have done so much harm" to Argentines, and "affected the normal functioning of the economy," said the minister.

In place of exchange controls in place since 2019, the peso will be allowed to float within a band of between 1,000 and 1,400 pesos to the dollar, the Central Bank added in a statement.

On Friday, the peso traded at 1,097 to the dollar at the official rate, and at 1,375 at the unofficial "blue" rate.

The Central Bank said the $200-per-month limit on Argentine citizens accessing greenbacks will also be lifted.

Under the deal, the differential exchange rate for exporters will be eliminated, while "the distribution of profits to foreign shareholders is allowed starting from the financial years beginning in 2025, and the deadlines for the payment of foreign trade operations are relaxed," it added.

- Inflation down -

"Milei needs this deal like he needs air," said Belen Amadeo, a political scientist at the University of Buenos Aires.

"He needs it to back up his economic offer, give himself more room to maneuver, because if instability sets in and inflation rises, insecurity will reach the population and they will flee immediately to the dollar."

Argentina, Latin America's third-biggest economy with a record of economic crises, hyperinflation and defaults, already owes the IMF $44 billion under a 2018 loan agreement -- the lender's biggest ever -- on which it has since renegotiated the repayment terms.

Milei, the country's budget-slashing president in office since December 2023, has sought a new loan to cancel Treasury debt to the Central Bank, wipe out stubborn inflation, boost growth and replenish foreign reserves.

The prospect of another IMF loan has caused a run on the peso, prompted by fears -- which Milei has rebuffed -- that a new deal could entail a currency devaluation.

The IMF has expressed approval of Milei's attempts to curb inflation, which came in higher at 3.7 percent for the month of March compared to 2.4 percent in February.

Annual inflation came in at 55.9 percent in March -- down from 211 percent at the end of 2023, but still one of the highest rates in the world.

Milei has fired tens of thousands of public sector workers, halved the number of government ministries and vetoed inflation-aligned pension increases to curb public spending.

Last year, Argentina recorded its first budget surplus in a decade, but the collateral damage has been a loss of purchasing power, jobs and consumer spending.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is due next week to visit Argentina and "affirm the United States' full support for Argentina's bold economic reforms," a statement from his office said.

burs-tgb/bfm

Y.Ishikawa--JT