(Bloomberg) — President Alberto Fernandez said Argentina is “absolutely” committed to reaching a deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Fernandez at the same time made clear that his government won’t risk rushing into an agreement if it’s a poor one for Argentines, in comments delivered Friday at the closing of an event with top business leaders.
“We’ll keep discussing until we’re sure we’ll have the resources to make Argentina stand on its own two feet again,” he said. “Only then, will we start paying the debts we’ve inherited.”
The country needs a reduction on the existing interest rates on its debt with the IMF as well as more time to pay back the loan, Fernandez added. Argentina had previously asked the IMF to consider temporary relief on commissions charged to countries that use the lender’s credit lines extensively, as well as to conduct a comprehensive review of these policies.
The president’s remarks come just after Economy Minister Martin Guzman spent the week in Washington D.C. holding technical and high-level meetings with Fund officials to rework a plan worth over $40 billion, including a Tuesday meeting with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva. Talks have so far been slow, in part due to Argentina’s upcoming congressional elections to be held in November.
New York Meetings
Cabinet Chief Juan Manzur and Guzman reinforced the same message to money managers in a meeting with investors held in New York Friday in which they said that reaching an agreement with the lender is a “national priority,” according to a statement.
Government officials avoided directly answering questions on a specific timing for a deal with the IMF, according to people with direct knowledge of the meeting, who asked not to be named because the talks were private.
Investors from asset managers including BlackRock Inc., Fintech Advisory Inc. and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, participated in the meeting. The officials also invited the participants to an investor trip in Buenos Aires.
(Updates with comments on cabinet chief meeting with investors from sixth paragraph)
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