IMF and Argentina Reach Agreement on Billion-Dollar Aid

(Patria) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with the heavily indebted Argentine government as it reviews the country's financial reforms, paving the way for a disbursement of one billion dollars, AFP reported.

"Policy momentum has strengthened in recent months," the IMF said, noting that its monetary and exchange rate policy "is improving Argentina's ability to manage shocks."

This new tranche of funds, the third planned under a twenty-billion-dollar program announced in April 2025, still needs to be approved by the Fund's Executive Board.

The new disbursement would bring the total amount of money the IMF has already given to Argentina to 15 billion dollars.

The South American country has managed to "weather the spillover from the war in the Middle East well," the IMF said, partly because it is an energy exporter.
Nevertheless, the IMF forecasts lower growth this year than in 2025 - 3.5 percent compared to 4.4 percent.

However, inflation, which has long plagued Argentina, is expected to continue slowing, to 30.4 percent year-on-year at the end of this year compared to nearly 42 percent at the end of 2025.

Although these figures are high, they are far from the 220 percent inflation that Argentina once experienced.

The IMF said it had agreed with Argentina on a series of additional reforms "to consolidate impressive stabilization gains and a sustainable reduction in poverty levels since the end of 2023."

The Argentine economy expanded last year, after two years of contraction.
However, growth was uneven, with some sectors, such as financial services, agriculture and mining, expanding, while others, such as manufacturing and retail, slowed.

Unemployment remains a concern, increasing by 1.1 percentage points to 7.5 percent over the past year, not including the large number of informally employed people across the country.