BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -The board of the International Monetary Fund will approve a $20 billion loan deal with Argentina in a Friday meeting, a top Argentine official said in an interview with local radio on Wednesday.
“For us it’s extremely important that the IMF is on it’s way to approving this agreement, which will be finalized on Friday,” presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni told radio station El Observador.
On Tuesday, the IMF announced it had reached a staff-level agreement on the deal, paving the way for the board vote.
Argentina desperately needs the $20 billion deal to unlock investment-blocking capital controls, bolster its depleted foreign currency reserves and come out of a tight inflationary pinch.
“For the first time, (the IMF deal) won’t be a spare tire but will be part of a program with a clear backbone,” Adorni said, citing the government’s efforts to tighten spending and stabilize the economy.
Argentina is the IMF’s largest creditor and has a spotty past with the Washington-based lender. The South American nation has had 22 programs with the fund so far, including a $44 billion deal which it is still repaying.
(Reporting by Lucila Sigal, Editing by Natalia Siniawski)
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