Buenos Aires Herald 
President Javier Milei held a meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the G20 World Leaders’ Summit in Brazil on Tuesday.
According to the Herald’s sister publication Ambito, the country’s current program with the lender was the focal point of their conversation, as well as negotiations for fresh funds.
“We took stock of the impressive progress in stabilizing the economy and making it more market-based. We stand ready to support Argentina and its people in building on these achievements,” Georgieva said on X.
Although the IMF has continually praised Milei’s administration for its economic policies, they have criticized exchange restrictions and the slow devaluation of the peso. Last week, Milei said he expected the incoming Donald Trump administration in the U.S. to “support” his government with the IMF. The Argentine government contends fresh funds from the lender are key to lifting currency controls.
The IMF kept its inflation forecast for Argentina unchanged in its October World Economic Outlook, projecting more pessimistic figures for this year and the next than the government’s 2025 budget bill.
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While the budget forecasts price rises of 104.4% for 2024 and 18.3% for 2025, the IMF countered that those numbers would actually be 140% and 45%, respectively. The government also predicted that GDP would fall by 3.8% in 2024 and bounce back by 5% in 2025. The Fund held a slightly more optimistic projection, with the economy shrinking by 3.5% this year and growing 5% the next.
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s chief economist, explained that the lender had maintained the same projections “because there are ongoing program discussions between the authorities and the Fund.”