IMF Approves 800 Million Dollars for Argentina
Argentina's annualized inflation rate in May was +276.4%
The radical political, economic, and social reforms launched in Argentina by libertarian President Javier Milei are not to the liking of many Argentines. Protest demonstrations are regularly held in the country, violently suppressed by the police. However, these reforms seem to be of interest to the International Monetary Fund, which has just approved $800 million dollars to Argentina.
On Wednesday, June 12, police and groups of demonstrators clashed violently in Buenos Aires, Argentina, protesting the so-called Basic Law, a sweeping and widely debated series of reforms proposed by libertarian President Javier Milei. Thousands of people gathered outside the parliament building to protest the proposed measures, which their critics say will harm millions of Argentines. Dozens of people were injured and arrested in the clashes.
“The IMF Executive Board has concluded that the program is on track to be implemented with confidence,” the Fund said in a statement. IMF experts concluded that “to sustain progress, it is necessary to improve the quality of fiscal adjustment, initiate steps to strengthen monetary and exchange rate policy frameworks, and implement a structural program.”
According to Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics (INDEC), in May 2024, the Latin American country’s consumer price index rose 4.2% for the month, reaching 276.4% year-on-year. The most significant price increases were recorded in telecommunications (+8.2%) and public education (+7.6%). In the first five months of the year, the consumer price index increased by 71.9%.
By pursuing a pro-Western foreign policy, Milei, having canceled Argentina’s entry into the BRICS group of countries, is moving toward rapprochement with the United States and with NATO in the hope of gaining political and material privileges.
On Friday, June 14, it was announced that Argentina had joined the so-called “Ramstein Group.” The purpose of this alliance is to coordinate the dispatch of military aid to Ukraine. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made the announcement during the group’s 23rd meeting in Brussels.
