- The bill would mean that no agreement with the IMF could proceed without Congressional support;
- An IMF mission is due to arrive in the country on Tuesday to start formal negotiations on replacing a 2018 agreement.
The Argentine Ministry of Economy said on Monday that it would send to Congress a bill that would establish the Legislative Branch as the final approver of agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and issues of new foreign debt.
The South American country recently emerged from a sovereign default after restructuring nearly $110 billion in foreign currency-denominated bonds and faces negotiations starting this month with the IMF on an agreement to replace a failed $ 57 billion tool.
“We think it would be healthy if decisions to borrow in foreign currency were approved by Congress,” Argentine Economy Minister Martín Guzmán said in a statement. “This has to do with turning debt sustainability into state policy.”
The bill would mean that no agreement with the IMF could proceed without Congressional support, nor could the government issue foreign debt without the support of parliamentarians.
An IMF mission is due to arrive in the country on Tuesday to start formal negotiations on replacing a 2018 agreement, which has already had about $44 billion disbursed.
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“The intention is to replace the current program with a new one based on completely different principles, understanding that there is no restoration of macroeconomic stability without the resumption of economic growth,” said Guzmán.
(Translated by LABS)
