Argentina's Massa says IMF deal causing inflation, will renegotiate it
Business
His challenger Javier Milei has proposed dollarizing the economy and shutting the central bank
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina's Economy Minister Sergio Massa plans to renegotiate the country's loan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if he wins the upcoming presidential election, he said Wednesday evening in a TV interview.
Massa said that the agreement with the IMF for a $44 billion loan, which made Argentina the organization's the largest debtor, is a key driver of the country's triple-figure inflation.
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"Argentina has a problem... the programme with the IMF, which is inflationary, which needs to be re-discussed," Massa said.
"We want to re-discuss the programme on the basis of the result of exports," he added.
PESO WEAKENS FURTHER
Argentina's central bank allowed the peso to weaken slightly on Wednesday to 353 per dollar, traders said, reactivating its 'crawling peg' for the currency that has been frozen at 350 per dollar since a primary election in mid-August.
The currency, devalued sharply after the Aug 13 primary, opened down 1.4 per cent at 355 per dollar, though quickly adjusted slightly to 353, traders said. The embattled currency has been shackled by varying degrees of capital controls since 2019.
Read more: Dollar pull effect: How a weaker currency makes you hostage to dollar
The Secretary of Economic Policy, Gabriel Rubinstein, had said last month on social network X, previously Twitter, that from Nov 15 the peso would be put back on a crawling peg, ultimately allowing it to devalue by around 3pc monthly.
Argentines will go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president between Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa and ultra-liberal outsider Javier Milei, who has proposed dollarizing the economy and shutting the central bank.
