The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, informed that he will request the authorization of the Congress to implement a new financing plan supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The announcement was made during the speech that the president delivered this March 1, within the framework of The opening of ordinary sessions congressional.
«Given the strategic importance of this agreement for Argentina, I want to announce that in the next few days I will ask Congress to support the Government in this new agreement with the International Monetary Fund,» said Milei.
Thus ratified the continuity of negotiations with the organism To solve The pending debt And he assured that the objective, of this new program, is the lifting of exchange restrictions that still persist in the country in 2025.
With the new Milei agreement aspirates move towards a «freer and more efficient» exchange schemein addition to attracting investments that translate into less inflation.
«We are advancing in an agreement with the IMF to clean up the balance of the Central Bank and leave the exchange rate definitely during this year,» he said.
In that sense, he clarified that the new program will not increase the country’s debt. On the contrary, «it will help the treasure cancel its debt to the Central Bank.»
He explained that the agreement will be possible due to what qualifies as economic achievements of his government, which included the implementation of the zero emission plan through which he applied a policy of cost reduction.
«Thanks to the solvency of our economic program, we are able to undertake this new agreement without increasing our gross debt,» said the Argentine president, who last February held an encounter with the IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, in Washington.
After that georgieva encounter praised the government’s economic programrecognizing Argentina’s progress in the reduction of inflation and stabilization of the economy.
So far, Milei has not offered details about the program and Nor is it known if the IMF is willing to give more money to Argentinawhich is its greatest debtor and has a non -compliance history.
Restrictions to Bitcoin as in El Salvador?
Argentina’s current commitments with the IMF They amount to about 44,500 million dollars and date back to the financial program that he took in mid -2018.
Subsequently, in March 2022, the South American country and the multilateral agency closed an extended facilities agreement (EFF) in which a set of economic goals were established.
As Cryptonotics reported at that time, the country promised to carry out some changes in monetary, economic and financial policy, and some of the agreement clauses They had implications for the Bitcoin ecosystem (BTC).
As recently happened with the Government of El Salvador, The IMF included in the agreement with Argentina a Bitcoin clause whose first objective proposes «discouraging the use of cryptocurrencies with a view to preventing money laundering, informality and disintermediation.»
It is a phrase that He turned on the alarms among the bitcoiners Argentines and that motivated them to request official information.
Alberto Fernández’s government said the goal was not to discourage the use of cryptocurrencies, and no specific actions were raised to comply with the clause. However, it is still in force to date, even under the mandate of Javier Milei.
Something different happened in El Salvador, where the Nayib Bukele government agreed to reform the law that gave BTC rank as legal tender. It is also known that the agency demanded that the government Do not promote digital currency and somehow influences the purchases of BTC that are made.
In this way, although IMF requests They look like Argentina and El Salvadorasking both governments and setting aside Bitcoin, everything indicates that the demands have been stronger for the Central American country.
In that sense, it seems that it has been taken into account that economic realities and the process of adopting cryptocurrencies differ in both countries. Argentina He is a leader for Bitcoin adoption in Latin Americabut it still does not have a clear regulation for the sector; While Salvadorans have little interest in BTC, even when their laws favor their use.
Additionally, Argentina’s economic situation is much more complex than that of El Salvador. However, both governments need FMI financial support to solve their financial problems.