(Bloomberg) -- Argentina is seeking a new program with the International Monetary Fund to succeed its current $44 billion deal, a step forward in resolving one of the Washington lender’s most problematic agreements.
Chief IMF Spokeswoman Julie Kozack confirmed Thursday that President Javier Milei’s government is working toward a new program instead of finishing the final reviews of the deal the libertarian inherited from his predecessor.
“The authorities have formally expressed interest in moving to a new program and negotiations are now underway,” Kozack said Thursday at a press conference in Washington.
Talks between Argentina and the IMF gained momentum after a team of officials from Economy Minister Luis Caputo’s office and the central bank traveled to Washington earlier this month to meet with the fund’s representatives.
A central question in negotiations on Argentina’s next IMF program is whether the lender will provide Milei with additional financing beyond rolling over the $44 billion burden — and how much. The libertarian president floated $15 billion earlier this year but hasn’t referenced the figure recently. Caputo said this week that he anticipates fresh funds to be part of the program.
When agreed, this would mark the country’s 23rd program with the organization since 1958 and its third since just 2018. The IMF has a poor track record in Argentina after several agreements over the decades failed to turn around the economy as one government after another often flouted program targets while spending the global lender’s money.
Milei and Caputo, his top negotiator, have a mixed relationship with the IMF. The president lambasted one of the fund’s top officials earlier this year, Rodrigo Valdes, who ultimately chose to step away from negotiations. During the first deal in 2018, Caputo disagreed with IMF officials over currency policy and resigned after a short tenure as central bank chief following a stretch as Argentina’s finance minister at the time.
IMF leadership, meanwhile, has lauded Milei and Caputo this year for cutting spending, cooling inflation and collapsing a gap between the country’s many exchange rates. Milei’s government has largely met the key targets in its current program after the previous administration missed several.
--With assistance from Ramsey Al-Rikabi.
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