LatinNews Daily - 07 June 2024

*The spokesperson for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Julie Kozack, has emphasised the need in Argentina to “scale up social assistance to support the poor”, amid the economic reforms being carried out by Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei. Speaking in a press briefing yesterday Kozack highlighted the need to “improve the quality of fiscal consolidation to ensure its durability and fairness while protecting the most vulnerable” and to ensure that “the adjustment burden does not fall disproportionately on working families”. She also welcomed the approval in Argentina’s lower house of “the key fiscal and structural legislation” – a reference to Milei’s flagship omnibus bill of reforms – along with “the forthcoming consideration in the senate following clearance of the relevant senate commissions last week”. On 13 May the IMF reached a staff-level agreement with Argentina on the eighth review under Argentina’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement, which is subject to approval by the IMF’s executive board. Upon approval, Argentina would have access to about US$800m. Kozack also said yesterday that “there were also some questions about the possibility of a new IMF programme. What I can say is that we remain focused right now on the eighth review, bringing this successfully to our Board for approval. So I’m not going to speculate about a new programme or new financing at this stage, but I can say that we will continue to discuss with the authorities the modalities on how to best engage and support Argentina going forward”.