Sergio Massa’s meeting with a key IMF official began after learning of the 7.7% inflation rate for March.

From Washington, USA – Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, He began his meeting with the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Geeta Gopinath. Massa began his work two days ago in the framework of the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank held in Washington at the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund.

Almost 8,400 kilometers from here, we cannot ignore the impact of data released by INDEC, which recorded a 7.7% increase in the inflation index for the month of March, an increase of 104.3% compared to the same month of the year. Past

Yesterday the Minister met with the IMF and the G20 and announced US$1,100 million in credits; USD 600 million from the IDB for health-related issues and USD 500 million from the Saudi Fund for Development for infrastructure.

Today, in addition, the Minister met at the Argentine Embassy Michael PyleDeputy Director of the National Security Council, and co Juan Gonzalez, the National Security Council’s director for Latin America (described in another note). He also hosted International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) working meetings with economic officials from South America and Mexico organized by the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department; with Mia Motley, Prime Minister of Barbados; Anna BertjeDirector of Operations, World Bank, et al.

The Massa-Gopinath meeting will be brief as is the case with this type of meeting. This comes just weeks after the final quarter review of the current plan was completed and amid the strong impact of the drought, the agency decided to change the stockpiling targets.

IMF technical experts called for tighter control measures on spending on subsidies, warned of the “unexpected” cost of the pension freeze, called for them to “maintain a tighter monetary policy stance” due to very high inflation and project risks now due to a “less favorable economic environment and increasing policy implementation challenges” due to the drought. There are more.

Therefore, this meeting is very important: the relationship between the organization and Argentina will become tense in a few weeks, when the negotiations for the assessment of the first three months of the year will begin. During this period, despite the change in targets, the country failed to accumulate the necessary reserves. Will it do so in the first half of the year? Massa and his officials hope the Farm Dollar will help them. Also, when parties confirm other established targets, they certainly look at all financial deficit data. The deal calls for it to be 1.9% of GDP, but drought and unexpected measures — for the IMF, at least — such as a new pension moratorium, could push it to more than 3 percent.

This is the second time Massa and Gopinath have seen each other in 15 days. At the end of March, during Alberto Fernández’s state visit, they met at the IMF. “Good meeting with Minister Sergio Massa. “Fourth review of the plan, severe impact of drought and importance of measures to augment reserves and continued mobilization of internal funds in a sustainable manner were discussed,” the official tweeted at the time.

Although they did not give signs of new changes, in the last hours, both Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF number one, Gopinath, spoke with concern about the drought’s strong impact on Argentina’s economy. More than one government official believed his statements might be misleading Introduction of new changes to targets. Anyway, we’ll have to wait.

Georgieva said yesterday that the drought had undermined the effects of the economy and hurt Argentina “significantly”. “This has complicated the work of policymakers,” the Bulgarian economist said. “We have the government’s commitment to continue to refine the policies in light of the conditions they find themselves in, and we will monitor closely how successful they are. It’s always about enforcement and enforcement in these difficult circumstances.”

On a note with CountryGopinath had promised on Wednesday that the drought was a “fundamental change” in economic terms.

Undoubtedly, what happens to the deficit will be part of talks between Massa and Gopinath this afternoon, and the matter will continue to be discussed by coaches in Washington and Buenos Aires in the coming weeks.

At the moment, a formal meeting between Georgieva and Massa is not scheduled, although the media witnessed a greeting and a brief conversation during yesterday’s sessions. Both will be part of a working meeting with finance ministers and governors of Latin America, Canada and US central banks. Inflation will certainly be one of the topics of the meeting as it is an issue that worries the financial and other countries. At that time, the data for March in Argentina will already be known.

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