BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) — Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez announced Friday that an agreement had been reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to settle a debt of more than 44 billion U.S. dollars that the country incurred in mid-2018.
“I want to announce that the government of Argentina has reached an agreement with the IMF … We had a problem and now we have a solution,” the president said in a video message broadcast by the official channel of the Presidency.
Fernandez assured that the agreement, which must be sent to Congress in the next few days, “does not contain restrictions” on Argentina’s current economic recovery.
“This understanding looks to sustain the economic recovery in progress. It doesn’t provide for a drop in real expenditure, while it does provide for a rise in the national government’s public works investment. It also doesn’t provide for devaluation jumps,” he emphasized.
The Argentine president explained that the new program to be implemented with the IMF will not impose a labor reform or a reduction in social spending, and will guarantee investments in public works, as well as in science and technology.
“Without this agreement, the commercial, economic and finance possibilities that our nation needs will be seriously limited (…) we will be able to access new financing precisely because this agreement exists,” Fernandez added.
