The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that it has reached a preliminary agreement on a $20 billion (£15.6 billion) bailout for cash-strapped Argentina.
The deal reached Tuesday will give libertarian President Javier Miley a long-awaited chance in his efforts to overhaul the country's entrenched economic order.
Because the rescue package is a staff-level agreement, it still needs final approval by the IMF's executive board, which is expected to meet in the coming days.
The fund's announcement will be a boost for Mr Miley, who has reduced inflation and stabilized Argentina's economy with a free-market austerity program that ended the reckless borrowing of his left-wing populist predecessors.
The IMF praises his achievements in reducing Argentina's budget deficit, but has refrained from providing a new loan to the country, which is its largest debtor, as the IMF has already provided 22 loans to it since 1958.
To achieve Argentina's first budget surplus in nearly two decades, Mr. Miley dismantled government agencies, firing thousands of civil servants and ending subsidies and price controls.
However, without funding from an international lender, he has been unable to rebuild Argentina's rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves, which are needed to service debt and lift the country's long-standing strict currency controls.
Currency controls prevent companies from transferring profits abroad, making it difficult to attract foreign investment.
“The agreement builds on the authorities' impressive early progress in stabilizing the economy,” the IMF said in a statement announcing the 48-month loan agreement.
Argentine authorities, who have been negotiating the deal for months, had no immediate comment.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
