WASHINGTON听–听础谤驳别苍迟颈苍补’蝉听president-elect Javier听惭颈濒别颈听met on Tuesday with top US officials in听奥补蝉丑颈苍驳迟辞苍听and his economic team huddled with听滨惭贵听officers as he听蝉别别办蝉听to formulate a plan to reshape the country’s听蹿辞谤别颈驳苍听辫辞濒颈肠测听and lead its economy out of crisis.
Mr. Milei told reporters as he left the White House that his meeting had been “excellent.” Among those in attendance were national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Juan Gonzalez, the National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere.
“We talked about the economic and social conditions in Argentina at the moment,” Mr. 惭颈濒别颈听said in brief comments before he was whisked off in his official car. Mr. 惭颈濒别颈听aligned himself with Western values, his office later said.
The White House said Mr. Sullivan and Mr. 惭颈濒别颈听had discussed during their meeting the importance of building on a strong bilateral relationship on economic issues and shared priorities such as investment in clean energy and technology.
Mr. Milei, a far-right libertarian who takes office on Dec. 10,聽聽this month pledging radical reforms such as dollarization and “shock” austerity to fix聽础谤驳别苍迟颈苍补’蝉听economy. Inflation is near 150%,听蹿辞谤别颈驳苍听currency reserves are in the red and a recession is looming.
His听蹿辞谤别颈驳苍听policy, meanwhile, is unabashedly pro-United States and pro-Israel, with a cooler stance on top trade partners Brazil and China.
“Mr. 惭颈濒别颈听is a unicorn, the leader of a major Latin American economy who is ostentatiously pro-American,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at听奥补蝉丑颈苍驳迟辞苍-based think-tank the Wilson Center.
While Mr. Milei‘s incoming team has looked to moderate earlier criticism of China and Brazil’s leftist government, the US听迟谤颈辫听ahead of his inauguration underscores his priorities.
He has also pledged not to join the聽. That’s a sharp change in approach from outgoing center-left President Alberto Fernandez, who visited Moscow as Vladimir Putin was readying his invasion of Ukraine in February last year and recently returned from a visit to Beijing.
THE $44 BILLION QUESTION
Mr. Milei also needs to get the country’s $44 billion聽 back on track, with support from the US – the听滨惭贵‘s largest shareholder – key to any revamp.
滨惭贵听Managing Director聽聽said earlier on Tuesday that she would meet Mr. 惭颈濒别颈听at the lender’s headquarters, but the meeting did not happen. The听滨惭贵听did not respond to a request for comment on the missed meeting.
Economic advisors to Mr. Milei, Nicol谩s Posse and Luis Caputo, met with the听滨惭贵‘s No. 2 Gita Gopinath and other fund officials, the fund said separately.
“They discussed the country’s complex challenges and plans for urgently strengthening stability and setting the basis for more sustainable growth,” the听滨惭贵听said in a statement.
A US Treasury official confirmed that Mr. Milei‘s advisors met with Treasury officials to discuss the president-elect’s economic agenda, but declined to provide details. The Treasury manages the dominant US shareholding in the听滨惭贵.
Argentina is by far the largest global debtor to the听奥补蝉丑颈苍驳迟辞苍-based lender but its program has ran off the tracks, and the听滨惭贵听has been losing patience. The program is used mostly to pay the Fund back for a failed $57 billion program from 2018.
During his campaign Mr. 惭颈濒别颈听vowed to dollarize South America’s second-largest economy, though he seems to have put that on the back burner while he looks to overturn a deep fiscal deficit and tamp down inflation. He has stuck, however, to pledges that he will radically change the mandate of the central bank.
The听滨惭贵听has said in the past that dollarization is not a substitute for sound macroeconomic听辫辞濒颈肠测. Lack of an orthodox聽辫辞濒颈肠测听framework under the current administration and a sharp increase in central bank-financed spending in the run-up to the presidential election further hurt the Argentine economy.
Mr. 惭颈濒别颈听and听滨惭贵听officials had a first virtual meeting on Friday, which Ms. Georgieva called a “very constructive engagement”.
Mr. Milei‘s office said the meeting with the听滨惭贵听was part of protocol to explain the incoming team’s economic plan and not in search for more financing.
Ms. Georgieva, however, told Reuters in an interview that the听滨惭贵听was “” to support Argentina and the country could be a candidate to receive a relatively small amount of extra financing through a trust for middle-income countries. – Reuters
