Updated April 25, 4.36 p.m.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, praised the Argentine government’s reforms and made remarks that were widely interpreted as a call to vote for the ruling party in the upcoming mid-term elections, a moment criticized by members of the opposition.

The next day, Georgieva said she did not mean to comment on the electoral process, but to send a message to the government.

“Argentina has demonstrated that this time it is different,” Georgieva said on Thursday in a press conference at the 2025 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF that are taking place in Washington, D.C.

“This time there is decisiveness to put the economy on a soundtrack from high deficit to surplus,” she said, adding that the Milei administration took inflation from double-digits to under 3% in February. The last available monthly inflation figure is March’s, which was 3.7%.

When asked about the risks the country could face, Georgieva highlighted the “worsening global environment” and also mentioned Argentina’s upcoming elections later this year. 

“It is very important that they do not derail the will for change. So far, we do not see that. We do not see that risk materializing, but I would urge Argentina, stay the course,” she said, in what many took as a thinly veiled call to vote for the ruling party in the legislative elections.

The Peronist Justicialista party lambasted Georgieva in a post on X, calling her words “an electoral intrusion” and saying that she “asked to vote for Milei’s candidates.” 

“It was too hard for Argentines to obtain the freedom to vote for us to submit the decision to a foreign body that has no say in the will of the Argentine people,” the party’s official account added.

On Friday, Georgieva told journalists she did not want to interfere in the elections. “Elections are for the Argentine people, not for us,” she said. “What we can learn from experience is that, very often, before elections, governments weaken their resolve for reforms. So my message was to the government — stay the course. For the benefit of growth in Argentina, for the benefit of the Argentine people.”

Two weeks ago, the IMF’s board approved a US$20 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Argentina, including an immediate disbursement of approximately US$12 billion. The Peronist party called it “another political loan, similar to the one granted to [then-president] Mauricio Macri in 2018.”

Georgieva mentioned that when the deal was announced, “the immediate impact on markets was positive” and added that “the country is not alone.”

“We are there. The World Bank is there. The Inter-American Bank is stepping up,” she said. “There is a very important opportunity for Argentina in a world hungry for what Argentina produces, both in agriculture and in minerals, mining, gas, lithium.”

Argentina’s Finance Secretary Pablo Quirno also spoke at the conference. He referred to himself as the “CFO of the country” and said that Argentina will regain market access “eventually,” but did not disclose a specific date.

“In the meantime, we still work as if we have no access, and we have to pay down our obligations as we did in these last 15 months,” he added.