BUENOS AIRES/LONDON: The Argentine government is expected to unveil tax and currency measures in the coming days as part of an ongoing deal with the International Monetary Fund that will effectively devalue the peso, according to a government official on Sunday.
The IMF should in the coming days finalize the basis for a staff-level agreement with Argentina over a review of the country’s $44 billion loan with the IMF, the Washington-based fund said on Sunday. The deal comes as the ruling Peronist party has promised to avoid a devaluation prior to October general elections, in which Economy Minister Sergio Massa heads the ticket. “The teams of the Economy Ministry and Central Bank of Argentina and the IMF staff have finished the core aspects of the technical work of the next review,” the IMF said on Twitter.
“The central objectives and parameters that will be the basis for a ‘staff level agreement’ have been agreed, which is expected to be finalized in the next few days before moving towards the review of the Argentina program,” it added.
On top of tax and currency measures that will in effect devalue the peso as part of the deal, according to a government official, the government will also announce a new preferential exchange rate for agricultural exports and levies on imports. –Agencies
