A report by the consultancy Ecolatina states that the Banco Central already attended the Treasury this year with an injection of $1.75 trillionwhich doubles the margin agreed with the IMF.
“The Treasury again requested direct monetary assistance from the BCRA at the beginning of July to cover its financial needs,” the report indicates.
On Friday, July 7, the BCRA transferred $400,000 million to the Treasury as Temporary Advances.
That same day, the Treasury used $260,000 million to buy dollars from the monetary authority for close to US$1,000 million while it used the remainder ($140,000 million) to cover cash needs.
“In this way, direct monetary assistance amounts to $1,758,000 million since the beginning of the year, more than doubling in little more than six months the limit established in the agreement with the IMF for the whole year (although we do not rule out a recalibration)”, warns Ecolatina.
Former IMF director says Sergio Massa lied about the gas pipeline
The consultant also assured that “an important point is that of the $1,088,000 million transferred in recent days, only $140,000 million had a monetary impact on the economy, since the rest was used to buy dollars, thus netting their effect on the monetary base.
“With these last changes, the stock of Temporary Advances was very close to the limit established by the Organic Charter (OC) of the BCRA: with current levels, the Treasury would have a little more than $300,000 million to request from the monetary authority,” the report added.
However, there are two more elements to consider: 1) given that the limit established by the CO depends on the evolution of the monetary base and the current income of the Public Sector, it is most probable that said amount will increase with the passing of the months product of the advance of nominality; and 2) the BCRA showed a surplus result in 2022, which implies that the monetary authority could also assist the Treasury via Profit Transfer for $1,146,000 million.
Massa, against the opposition: “They call to implode everything as if there were no people inside”
The economic team faces difficulties to redefine the agreement with the IMF
In this delicate economic scenario, the Minister of Economy and presidential candidate for Unión por la Patria, Sergio Massalaunched last Thursday, July 13, a strong accusation against opposition economists when affirming that they spoke with their colleagues from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and asked them not to “give anything” to this government.
“An IMF economist told me this morning on Zoom that they spoke to the IMF and told them: don’t give them anything, ask them for everything, Argentina has to have a hard time now, this has to explode,” said the head of the Palacio de Treasury on this alleged sabotage of the opposition to the negotiation for the debt.
The economic team, on its last visit to the Monetary Fund, in Washington. Photo: MECON
In the opposition arch, the minister’s statements did not go unnoticed.
Luciano Laspina, PRO economist and one of Patricia Bullrich’s main economic advisors, said: “We have had a very prudent attitude with this government and the only thing we have received in return are false accusations.” And he pointed out that the supposed conversation with the IMF is “unverifiable like everything Massa says“.
Laspina reinforced the counterattack indicating that “Massa lies to the face“, and cited as an example the controversy over the gas pipeline records: “Massa already lied with the gas pipeline, saying that the Fund did not want the gas pipeline, and the Fund had made it a priority“.
GI/CA