IMF increases Argentina bailout package to $57 billion
The International Monetary Fund and Argentina announced Wednesday an arrangement to increase resources available to the South American country by $19 billion.
The agreement, pending IMF Executive Board approval, would bring the total amount available under the program to $57.1 billion by the end of 2021, up from the $50 billion credit line secured on June 8.
Argentina's recession-laden economy is struggling under steep interest rates of 60% and a currency that has lost around 50% of its value against the dollar this year.
The governor of Argentina's Central Bank, Luis Caputo, resigned on Tuesday after taking the reins in June, the bank said in a statement - a surprise announcement for a country in the midst of talks with the IMF. The announcement sent the peso tumbling.
The agreement makes $14 billion available for borrowing for the remainder of 2018, rather than the planned $6 billion; and another $23 billion in 2019, rather than $12 billion - a $19 billion advance in total.
Macri has already spent nearly all the $15 billion drawn from the credit line on June 22 to prop up the peso, which has nevertheless lost half its value since Argentina's carry-trade debt bubble imploded in April.
At: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/26/imf-increases-argentina-bailout-package.html
Macri and the IMF's Christine Lagarde at an Atlantic Council (NATO) dinner in New York Monday night.
"I must confess I have a crush on Christine," Macri told attendees. "And soon all Argentines will be crushing on her too."
