The Argentine Economy Minister, Sergio Massa, considered that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is breaking its commitment to review the costs of the war in Ukraine for the South American country.
“Argentina complied with its program, but the Monetary Fund is not complying with Argentina in reviewing how they are going to compensate the countries that paid the cost of the war with their economy. It is a problem to be solved”, said Massa, in an interview with the Infobae portal.
In 2022, the government of the center-leftist Alberto Fernández renegotiated the credit for US$44,000 million with the IMF that Argentina had contracted under the presidency of the right-wing Mauricio Macri, in 2018.
During the Group of 20 (G20) summit in November in Bali (Indonesia), Alberto Fernández discussed with the Fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, “the negative of the war for the whole world” and its specific impact on countries emerging.
Georgieva then recommended that the government “stay the course” it had adopted in recent months since the start of Massa’s administration.
The government estimates the costs of the war in Ukraine for the Argentine economy at around 5,000 billion dollars, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said during the G20 summit.
In December, the IMF approved compliance with the renegotiated fiscal and monetary goals in 2022 with Argentina, which closed the year with 94.8% inflation, the highest in 32 years, although growth was estimated at 5% in 2022.
Massa attributed Argentina’s current debt problems to the loan contracted with the IMF by the previous government: “It is a bomb that must be managed and that limited the capacity for growth…”, he affirmed.
“Our main objective is to lower inflation without freezing the economy, because the peace of the cemeteries is of no use to anyone,” alluding to criticism from opposition economists who demand greater fiscal adjustment.