Argentina expects IMF to approve US$7.5-billion disbursement

Economy Minister Sergio Massa expects the International Monetary Fund to approve a US$7.5-billion disbursement on Wednesday as Argentina's programme faces growing uncertainty after primary elections last week.

Argentina also expects to receive another US$2.5-billion payment from the Washington-based institution in November pending a staff-level review, Massa told reporters in the US capital following meetings with officials from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank on Tuesday.

The IMF board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on Argentina’s loan after a staff-level agreement was reached last month. Massa’s comments came after a senior government official last week said that the nation intended to ask the IMF to increase the disbursement. On Tuesday he brushed away a question about whether the country was asking for more.

Massa, running as the incumbent party’s presidential candidate, declined to provide a forecast for inflation in August and September after the annual pace of consumer-price increases reached 113 percent in July. Massa blamed Argentina’s 18 percent currency devaluation last week on the IMF, saying it was a condition for receiving the August disbursement. 

Massa doesn’t expect the general election in October to impact whether the IMF disburses the US$2.5-billion payment in November. Javier Milei, a libertarian who wants to dollarise the economy and close the central bank, catapulted to the front of the field with this month’s primary vote.